King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Japanese symbol for “cares”

Romaji: kurou
trouble; hardship; difficulty; labour

In Japanese, cares is , read (kurou).

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. n, vi, vs trouble; hardship; difficulty; labour; labor; toil
  2. n, vi, vs anxiety; worry; concern; cares

Written forms: . Readings: .

Kanji and stroke order

suffering, trial, worry
on: ク
kun: くる.しい、-ぐる.しい、くる.しむ、くる.しめる
8 strokes · JLPT 2
labor, thank for, reward for
on: ロウ
kun: ろう.する、いたわ.る、いた.ずき、ねぎら
7 strokes · JLPT 2

Other Japanese words for “cares”

WordReadingMeaning
うさ usagloom; sadness; melancholy
わだかまり wadakamaribad feeling; cares; ill feeling
しんぱいごと shinpaigotoworries; cares; troubles

Related words

Words that share a kanji.

WordReadingMeaning
にがて nigatepoor (at); weak (in); not very good (at)
くるしみ kurushimipain; anguish; distress
くつう kutsuupain; agony; suffering
くじょう kujoucomplaint; troubles; objection
くるしい kurushiipainful; difficult; tough
ろうどう roudoulabor; labour; work
ひろう hiroufatigue; weariness; exhaustion
かろう karouoverwork; strain

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.