King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Japanese symbol for “catastrophic”

Romaji: kaimetsuteki
devastating; catastrophic; crushing

In Japanese, catastrophic is , read (kaimetsuteki).

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. adj-na devastating; catastrophic; crushing

Written forms: . Readings: .

Kanji and stroke order

demolition, break, destroy
on: カイ、エ
kun: こわ.す、こわ.れる、やぶ.る
16 strokes · JLPT 1
destroy, ruin, overthrow
on: メツ
kun: ほろ.びる、ほろ.ぶ、ほろ.ぼす
13 strokes · JLPT 1
bull's eye, mark, target
on: テキ
kun: まと
8 strokes · JLPT 2

Other Japanese words for “catastrophic”

WordReadingMeaning
はめつてき hametsutekidestructive; catastrophic; disastrous

Related words

Words that share a kanji.

WordReadingMeaning
はかい hakaidestruction; disruption
ほうかい houkaicollapse; crumbling; breaking down
こわす kowasuto break; to destroy; to demolish
こわれる kowareruto be broken; to break; to fall apart
かいめつ kaimetsu(complete) destruction; annihilation; devastation
とうかい toukaidestruction; collapse; crumbling
しょうめつ shoumetsuextinction; extinguishment; disappearance
はめつ hametsuruin; destruction; fall
もくてき mokutekipurpose; goal; aim

See also: Chinese symbol for “catastrophic”.

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.

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