King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Japanese symbol for “damage”

Romaji: higai
(suffering) damage; injury; harm

In Japanese, damage is , read (higai).

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 (suffering) damage; injury; harm

Kanji and stroke order

incur, cover, veil
on: ヒ
kun: こうむ.る、おお.う、かぶ.る、かぶ.せる
10 strokes · JLPT 2
harm, injury
on: ガイ
10 strokes · JLPT 2

Other Japanese words for “damage”

WordReadingMeaning
そんがい songaidamage; injury; loss
はそん hasondamage; breakage
そんしょう sonshoudamage; injury
そん sonloss; damage; harm
いたみ itamidamage; injury; wear

Related words

Words that share a kanji.

WordReadingMeaning
ひこく hikokudefendant; the accused
ひさい hisaisuffering (from a disaster); being hit (by an earthquake, typhoon, etc.); falling victim (to)
ひばく hibakubeing bombed
ひしゃたい hishatai(photographic) subject
かぶる kaburuto put on (one's head); to wear; to have on
しょうがい shougaiobstacle; impediment; hindrance
さいがい saigaicalamity; disaster; misfortune
そんがい songaidamage; injury; loss

See also: Chinese symbol for “damage”.

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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