Japanese symbol for “crumbling”
崩壊
ほうかい
Romaji: houkai
collapse; crumbling; breaking down; caving in
In Japanese, crumbling is 崩壊, read ほうかい (houkai).
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, vi, vs collapse; crumbling; breaking down; caving in
- n, vi, vs (radioactive) decay; disintegration (physics)
Written forms: 崩壊、崩潰. Readings: ほうかい.
Kanji and stroke order
Other Japanese words for “crumbling”
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 崩れ | くずれ kuzure | crumbling; collapse; ruin |
| 倒壊 | とうかい toukai | destruction; collapse; crumbling |
| ボロボロ | ボロボロ boroboro | crumbling; dry and crumbly |
| 壊崩 | かいほう kaihou | collapse; crumbling; breaking down |
| ほろほろ | ほろほろ horohoro | falling apart; crumbling; melting (in one's mouth) |
Related words
Words that share a kanji.
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 崩れる | くずれる kuzureru | to collapse; to crumble |
| 崩れ | くずれ kuzure | crumbling; collapse; ruin |
| 雪崩 | なだれ nadare | avalanche; snowslide |
| 崩す | くずす kuzusu | to destroy; to demolish; to pull down |
| 崩落 | ほうらく houraku | collapse; break; cave-in |
| 破壊 | はかい hakai | destruction; disruption |
| 壊す | こわす kowasu | to break; to destroy; to demolish |
| 壊れる | こわれる kowareru | to be broken; to break; to fall apart |
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.