Japanese symbol for “cleaning”
掃除
そうじ
Romaji: souji
cleaning; sweeping; dusting; scrubbing
In Japanese, cleaning is 掃除, read そうじ (souji).
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
- n, vs, vt cleaning; sweeping; dusting; scrubbing
Kanji and stroke order
Other Japanese words for “cleaning”
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 清掃 | せいそう seisou | cleaning; clean-up; garbage collection |
| クリーニング | クリーニング kuriiningu | cleaning; dry cleaning; laundry service |
| 洗浄 | せんじょう senjou | washing; cleansing; cleaning |
| 拭き掃除 | ふきそうじ fukisouji | cleaning; scrubbing |
| 落とし | おとし otoshi | cleaning; removing; ridding |
Related words
Words that share a kanji.
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 清掃 | せいそう seisou | cleaning; clean-up; garbage collection |
| 一掃 | いっそう issou | clean sweep; purging; doing away with |
| 掃海 | そうかい soukai | sweeping the sea for mines; dragging for mines |
| 掃討 | そうとう soutou | cleaning up (enemy remnants); sweeping clean (of opponents); mopping up |
| 掃射 | そうしゃ sousha | sweeping with fire; mowing down; strafing |
| 解除 | かいじょ kaijo | termination (of a contract); cancellation; rescinding |
| 排除 | はいじょ haijo | exclusion; removal; elimination |
| 削除 | さくじょ sakujo | deletion; elimination; erasure |
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.