King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Japanese symbol for “discerning”

Romaji: surudoi
sharp (knife, claws, etc.); pointed

In Japanese, discerning is , read (surudoi).

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. adj-i sharp (knife, claws, etc.); pointed
  2. adj-i sharp (pain, tone, etc.); acute; stabbing; cutting (remark, criticism, etc.); stinging; biting
  3. adj-i keen (intuition, sense of smell, etc.); acute; sharp (eye, mind, etc.); astute; shrewd; discerning

Written forms: . Readings: .

Kanji and stroke order

pointed, sharpness, edge
on: エイ
kun: するど.い
15 strokes · JLPT 2

Other Japanese words for “discerning”

WordReadingMeaning
ぐがん gugandiscerning
こうかんど koukandodiscerning; discriminating; of refined tastes
さとい satoisharp (ear, etc.); sensitive; discerning
こころある kokoroaruhaving good taste; discerning; refined

Related words

Words that share a kanji.

WordReadingMeaning
しんえい shin'eiyoung and energetic; up-and-coming; new and excellent
えいり eirisharp; keen; acute
せいえい seieielite; best; pick
えいかく eikakuacute angle
えいびん eibinsharp (eyes, ears, etc.); keen; acute

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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