King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Japanese symbol for “consult”

Romaji: hiku
to pull; to tug; to lead (e.g. a horse)

In Japanese, consult is , read (hiku).

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. v5k, vt to pull; to tug; to lead (e.g. a horse)
  2. v5k, vt to draw (attention, sympathy, etc.); to attract (e.g. interest)
  3. v5k, vt to draw back (e.g. one's hand); to draw in (one's chin, stomach, etc.); to pull in
  4. v5k, vt to draw (a card, mahjong tile, etc.)
  5. v5k, vt to draw (a line, plan, etc.)
  6. v5k, vt to catch (a cold)

Written forms: . Readings: .

Kanji and stroke order

pull, tug, jerk
on: イン
kun: ひ.く、ひ.ける
4 strokes · JLPT 3

Other Japanese words for “consult”

WordReadingMeaning
ぎす gisuto consult (someone); to talk something over
くる kuruto turn (pages); to flip through (a book); to leaf through (a book)
はからう hakarauto consult (with); to talk (to)
さんこうにする sankounisuruto refer to; to consult; to use as a reference
たばかる tabakaruto discuss; to consult

Related words

Words that share a kanji.

WordReadingMeaning
とりひき torihikitransactions; dealings; business
いんたい intairetirement
わりびき waribikidiscount; reduction; rebate
ひきつづき hikitsuzukicontinuously; continually; without a break
いんよう in'youquotation; citation; reference
ひっこし hikkoshimoving (dwelling, office, etc.); changing residence

See also: Chinese symbol for “consult”.

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.