Japanese symbol for “drive”
推進
すいしん
Romaji: suishin
propulsion; drive
In Japanese, drive is 推進, read すいしん (suishin).
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, vs, vt propulsion; drive
- n, vs, vt promotion (of a policy, project, movement, etc.); furtherance; advancement; pushing forward
Kanji and stroke order
Other Japanese words for “drive”
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 駆動 | くどう kudou | drive; driving (force) |
| 意欲 | いよく iyoku | will; desire; eagerness |
| ドライブ | ドライブ doraibu | drive; trip by car; driving |
| 追い込む | おいこむ oikomu | to herd; to drive; to chase |
| 追う | おう ou | to drive (e.g. a herd) |
Related words
Words that share a kanji.
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 推薦 | すいせん suisen | recommendation; referral; endorsement |
| 推定 | すいてい suitei | presumption; assumption |
| 推測 | すいそく suisoku | guess; conjecture |
| 推理 | すいり suiri | reasoning; inference; deduction |
| 推移 | すいい suii | transition; change; progress |
| 進行 | しんこう shinkou | moving forward (e.g. of a vehicle); onward movement |
| 進出 | しんしゅつ shinshutsu | advance (into a new market, industry, etc.); expansion (into); launch (into) |
| 進化 | しんか shinka | evolution |
See also: Chinese symbol for “drive”.
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.