Japanese symbol for “confining”
狭い
せまい
Romaji: semai
narrow; confined; small; cramped
In Japanese, confining is 狭い, read せまい (semai).
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
- adj-i narrow; confined; small; cramped
- adj-i limited; narrow-minded; confining
Kanji and stroke order
Other Japanese words for “confining”
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 纏縛 | てんばく tenbaku | binding firmly; restraining; restricting |
Related words
Words that share a kanji.
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 狭間 | はざま hazama | gap; narrow space between things; interstice |
| 偏狭 | へんきょう henkyou | narrow-mindedness; intolerance; illiberality |
| 狭める | せばめる sebameru | to narrow; to reduce; to contract |
| 狭心症 | きょうしんしょう kyoushinshou | angina pectoris |
| 手狭 | てぜま tezema | narrow; small; cramped |
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.