Japanese symbol for “corsair”

私掠船

しりゃくせん

Romaji: shiryakusen

privateer; corsair

In Japanese, corsair is 私掠船, read しりゃくせん (shiryakusen).

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 privateer; corsair

Kanji and stroke order

私

private, I, me

on: シ
kun: わたくし、わたし

7 strokes · JLPT 3

掠

pillage, rob, graze

on: リャク、リョウ
kun: かす.める、かす.る、かす.れる

11 strokes

船

ship, boat

on: セン
kun: ふね、ふな-

11 strokes · JLPT 2

Related words

Words that share a kanji.

Word	Reading	Meaning
私立	しりつ shiritsu	private (establishment)
私鉄	してつ shitetsu	private railway
私的	してき shiteki	private; personal
私物	しぶつ shibutsu	private property; personal belongings; personal effects
私生活	しせいかつ shiseikatsu	private life
私服	しふく shifuku	ordinary clothes (i.e. non-uniform); plain clothes; civilian clothes
掠める	かすめる kasumeru	to steal; to rob; to snatch
掠り	かすり kasuri	grazing; touching lightly
船長	せんちょう senchou	ship's captain; skipper

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.