Japanese symbol for “drop”

落とす

おとす

Romaji: otosu

to drop; to lose; to let fall; to shed (light)

In Japanese, drop is 落とす, read おとす (otosu).

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

v5s, vt to drop; to lose; to let fall; to shed (light); to cast (one's gaze); to pour in (liquid)
v5s, vt to clean off (dirt, makeup, paint, etc.); to remove (e.g. stains or facial hair); to lose; to spend money at a certain place; to omit; to leave out
v5s, vt to lose (a match); to reject (an applicant); to fail (a course); to defeat (in an election)
v5s, vt to lower (e.g. shoulders or voice); to lessen (e.g. production or body weight); to worsen (quality); to reduce (e.g. rank or popularity); to speak badly of; to make light of
v5s, vt to fall into (e.g. a dilemma or sin); to make one's own; to have one's bid accepted; to force surrender; to take (e.g. an enemy camp or castle); to forcefully convince
v5s, vt to download; to copy from a computer to another medium (comp)

Written forms: 落とす、落す、堕とす、墜とす. Readings: おとす.

Kanji and stroke order

落

fall, drop, come down

on: ラク
kun: お.ちる、お.ち、お.とす

12 strokes · JLPT 2

Other Japanese words for “drop”

Word	Reading	Meaning
落ちる	おちる ochiru	to fall; to drop; to come down
粒	つぶ tsubu	grain; bead; drop
滴	しずく shizuku	drop (e.g. of water); drip
落下	らっか rakka	fall; drop; descent
下がる	さがる sagaru	to come down; to go down; to fall

Related words

Words that share a kanji.

Word	Reading	Meaning
落ちる	おちる ochiru	to fall; to drop; to come down
落ち	おち ochi	slip; omission
墜落	ついらく tsuiraku	fall; crash (of an aircraft)
落語	らくご rakugo	rakugo; traditional Japanese comic storytelling; comic story (told by a professional storyteller)
落下	らっか rakka	fall; drop; descent

See also: Chinese symbol for “drop”.

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.