King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Japanese symbol for “drops”

Romaji: tsubutsubu
grains; lumps; drops; beads

In Japanese, drops is , read (tsubutsubu).

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 grains; lumps; drops; beads; pulp
  2. adj-no, adv, adv-to grainy; bumpy; coarse; bubbly; foamy; lumpy

Written forms: . Readings: .

Kanji and stroke order

grains, drop, counter for tiny particles
on: リュウ
kun: つぶ
11 strokes · JLPT 2

Related words

Words that share a kanji.

WordReadingMeaning
りゅうし ryuushiparticle; grain
そりゅうし soryuushielementary particle; particle
びりゅうし biryuushicorpuscle; minute particle; particulate
りゅうじょう ryuujougranular; granulated
こつぶ kotsubusmall (of a grain or berry, etc.)
おおつぶ ootsubularge drop (of rain, sweat, tears, etc.); large grain-like object (e.g. grape, cherry)

See also: Chinese symbol for “drops”.

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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