King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Japanese symbol for “crafty”

Romaji: akuratsu
crafty; vicious; unscrupulous; sharp

In Japanese, crafty is , read (akuratsu).

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. adj-na crafty; vicious; unscrupulous; sharp

Written forms: . Readings: .

Kanji and stroke order

bad, vice, rascal
on: アク、オ
kun: わる.い、わる-、あ.し、にく.い
11 strokes · JLPT 3
pungent, spicy, harsh
on: ラツ
kun: から.い
14 strokes

Other Japanese words for “crafty”

WordReadingMeaning
いんけん inkencrafty; tricky; sly
ずるい zuruisly; cunning; sneaky
こうかつ koukatsusly; cunning; crafty
わるがしこい warugashikoicunning; crafty; wily
せこい sekoipetty; small-minded; stingy

Related words

Words that share a kanji.

WordReadingMeaning
さいあく saiakuworst
わるぐち waruguchi(verbal) abuse; speaking ill of people; bad-mouthing
あっか akkadeterioration; getting worse; worsening
あくま akumadevil; demon; fiend
わるい waruibad; poor; undesirable
あくしつ akushitsumalicious; vicious; malignant
しんらつ shinratsubitter (e.g. criticism); sharp; biting
らつわん ratsuwanshrewdness; sharpness; astuteness

See also: Chinese symbol for “crafty”.

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.