Japanese symbol for “department”
科
か
Romaji: ka
department (of a university or hospital)
In Japanese, department is 科, read か (ka).
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, n-suf department (of a university or hospital)
- n, n-suf course (of study); branch of study; specialization
- n, n-suf family (biol)
Kanji and stroke order
Other Japanese words for “department”
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 局 | きょく kyoku | bureau; department |
| 部門 | ぶもん bumon | division (of a larger group); branch; field |
| 部 | ぶ bu | department (in an organization, company, etc.); division; bureau |
| 学部 | がくぶ gakubu | faculty (of a university); school; college |
| 売り場 | うりば uriba | selling area; counter; section |
Related words
Words that share a kanji.
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 科学 | かがく kagaku | science |
| 教科書 | きょうかしょ kyoukasho | textbook; coursebook; schoolbook |
| 外科 | げか geka | surgery (branch of medicine) |
| 学科 | がっか gakka | subject (of study); course of study |
| 科目 | かもく kamoku | (school) subject; curriculum; course |
| 歯科 | しか shika | dentistry |
See also: Chinese symbol for “department”.
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.