King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Japanese symbol for “copy”

Romaji: genkou
manuscript; copy; draft; notes

In Japanese, copy is , read (genkou).

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 manuscript; copy; draft; notes; contribution

Kanji and stroke order

meadow, original, primitive
on: ゲン
kun: はら
10 strokes · JLPT 2
draft, copy, manuscript
on: コウ
kun: わら、したがき
15 strokes · JLPT 1

Other Japanese words for “copy”

WordReadingMeaning
コピー kopiicopy; photocopy
うつす utsusuto copy; to duplicate; to reproduce
うつし utsushicopy; duplicate; facsimile
もしゃ moshacopy (of the real thing); copying; reproduction
にせる niseruto copy; to imitate; to counterfeit

Related words

Words that share a kanji.

WordReadingMeaning
げんいん gen'incause; origin; source
げんさく gensakuoriginal work
げんそく gensokuprinciple; general rule
げんしりょく genshiryokuatomic energy; nuclear power
げんり genriprinciple; theory; fundamental truth
とうこう toukoucontribution (to a newspaper, magazine, etc.); submission; post (on a blog, social media, etc.)
そうこう soukounotes; draft; manuscript
きこう kikoucontribution (e.g. to newspaper)

See also: Chinese symbol for “copy”.

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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