King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Japanese symbol for “discretion”

Romaji: sairyou
discretion; judgement; judgment

In Japanese, discretion is , read (sairyou).

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, vs, vt discretion; judgement; judgment

Kanji and stroke order

tailor, judge, decision
on: サイ
kun: た.つ、さば.く
12 strokes · JLPT 1
quantity, measure, weight
on: リョウ
kun: はか.る
12 strokes · JLPT 2

Other Japanese words for “discretion”

WordReadingMeaning
えんりょ enryoreserve; constraint; restraint
ふんべつ funbetsudiscretion; prudence; good sense
ものごころ monogokoroawareness of things around one; ability to understand what is going on around oneself; judgment
しりょ shiryoprudence; discretion; thought
とりはからい torihakaraiarrangement; handling; measures

Related words

Words that share a kanji.

WordReadingMeaning
さいばん saibantrial; judgement; judgment
さいばんしょ saibanshocourt; courthouse
そうさい sousaipresident (of an organization); director general; governor (of a central bank)
せいさい seisaisanctions; punishment
どくさい dokusaidictatorship; despotism; autocracy
さいばんかん saibankanjudge
たいりょう tairyoularge quantity; massive (quantity); mass (e.g. mass production, mass transit, mass destruction)
じゅうりょう juuryouweight

See also: Chinese symbol for “discretion”.

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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