King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Japanese symbol for “delicately”

Romaji: awaawa
lightly; faintly; delicately

In Japanese, delicately is , read (awaawa).

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. adv, adv-to lightly; faintly; delicately

Written forms: . Readings: .

Kanji and stroke order

thin, faint, pale
on: タン
kun: あわ.い
11 strokes · JLPT 1

Other Japanese words for “delicately”

WordReadingMeaning
なよなよ nayonayodelicately; weakly; gently

Related words

Words that share a kanji.

WordReadingMeaning
れいたん reitancool; indifferent; apathetic
たんぱく tanpakulight (flavor, color, etc.); simple; plain
あわい awailight (color, taste, etc.); faint (e.g. smell); pale
たんすい tansuifresh water (i.e. not salt water)
のうたん noutanlight and shade; shade (of colour, color)

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.