King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Japanese symbol for “destroy”

Romaji: kuzusu
to destroy; to demolish; to pull down; to tear down

In Japanese, destroy is , read (kuzusu).

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. v5s, vt to destroy; to demolish; to pull down; to tear down; to level
  2. v5s, vt to disturb; to put into disorder; to throw off balance; to make shaky
  3. v5s, vt to relax (one's pose); to make oneself at ease
  4. v5s, vt to break (a bill); to change; to make change
  5. v5s, vt to write in cursive style; to write in running style
  6. v5s, vt to break into a smile; to let off a smile

Kanji and stroke order

crumble, die, demolish
on: ホウ
kun: くず.れる、-くず.れ、くず.す
11 strokes · JLPT 1

Other Japanese words for “destroy”

WordReadingMeaning
ほろぼす horobosuto destroy; to overthrow; to wreck
こわす kowasuto break; to destroy; to demolish
やぶる yaburuto tear; to rip; to break
ころす korosuto suppress; to block; to hamper
うつ utsuto attack; to destroy; to defeat

Related words

Words that share a kanji.

WordReadingMeaning
ほうかい houkaicollapse; crumbling; breaking down
くずれる kuzureruto collapse; to crumble
くずれ kuzurecrumbling; collapse; ruin
なだれ nadareavalanche; snowslide
ほうらく hourakucollapse; break; cave-in

See also: Chinese symbol for “destroy”.

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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