King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Japanese symbol for “briefly”

Romaji: ittan
once

In Japanese, briefly is , read (ittan).

Before using these characters for a tattoo, check them with a native speaker. Dictionary words often have several meanings, and the right choice depends on context.

Meanings

  1. adv once
  2. adv for a short time; briefly; temporarily
  3. n one morning

Kanji and stroke order

one, one radical (no.1)
on: イチ、イツ
kun: ひと-、ひと.つ
1 strokes · JLPT 4
daybreak, dawn, morning
on: タン、ダン
kun: あき.らか、あきら、ただし、あさ
5 strokes · JLPT 1

Other Japanese words for “briefly”

WordReadingMeaning
ひととおり hitotoorigenerally; in the main; briefly (look over, explain, etc.)
てみじかにいえば temijikaniiebabriefly; in short; in a nutshell
ざっと zattocursorily; briefly; quickly
ちょっと chottojust a minute; for a moment; briefly
ちょい choijust a minute; for a moment; briefly

Related words

Words that share a kanji.

WordReadingMeaning
いっしょ issho(doing) together
いちばん ichibannumber one; first; first place
ひとつ hitotsuone
いっぱん ippangeneral; universal
いちぶ ichibuone part; one portion; one section
いっぽう ippouone (esp. of two); the other; one way
だんな dannamaster (of a house, shop, etc.)
がんたん gantanNew Year's Day; first day of the year

See also: Chinese symbol for “briefly”.

Data: JMdict (CC BY-SA 4.0); KANJIDIC2 (CC BY-SA 4.0); KanjiVG (CC BY-SA 3.0); wordfreq (CC BY-SA 4.0 (data)). Retrieved 2026-10-22.