King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Japanese symbol for “crisis”

Romaji: kiki
crisis; critical situation; emergency; pinch

In Japanese, crisis is , read (kiki).

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 crisis; critical situation; emergency; pinch

Kanji and stroke order

dangerous, fear, uneasy
on: キ
kun: あぶ.ない、あや.うい、あや.ぶむ
6 strokes · JLPT 2
loom, mechanism, machine
on: キ
kun: はた
16 strokes · JLPT 2

Other Japanese words for “crisis”

WordReadingMeaning
こと kotoincident; occurrence; event
だいじ daijiserious matter; major incident; matter of grave concern
きゅう kyuuemergency; crisis; danger
おおごと oogotoserious matter; major incident; matter of grave concern
クライシス kuraishisucrisis

Related words

Words that share a kanji.

WordReadingMeaning
きけん kikendanger; peril; hazard
きぐ kiguapprehension; misgivings; uneasiness
あぶない abunaidangerous; risky; hazardous
あやうく ayaukubarely; narrowly
あやうい ayauidangerous; in danger; facing imminent danger
きのう kinoufunction; facility; faculty
きかん kikanengine
きかい kikaichance; opportunity; occasion

See also: Chinese symbol for “crisis”.

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.