King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Japanese symbol for “cringing”

Romaji: donbiki
being put off (by someone's words, behaviour, etc.); being taken aback; recoiling (in shock, disgust, etc.); cringing

In Japanese, cringing is , read (donbiki).

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, vi, vs being put off (by someone's words, behaviour, etc.); being taken aback; recoiling (in shock, disgust, etc.); cringing; being left speechless
  2. n, vi, vs zooming out or pulling the camera back to get a wider image (film, tv)

Written forms: . Readings: .

Kanji and stroke order

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

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 “cringing”.

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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