Japanese symbol for “drug”
薬物
やくぶつ
Romaji: yakubutsu
drug; medicine
In Japanese, drug is 薬物, read やくぶつ (yakubutsu).
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 drug; medicine
Kanji and stroke order
Other Japanese words for “drug”
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 麻薬 | まやく mayaku | narcotic; drug; dope |
| 薬 | くすり kusuri | (illegal) drug; narcotic |
| 薬品 | やくひん yakuhin | medicine; drug |
| ドラッグ | ドラッグ doraggu | drug; medicine |
| 薬剤 | やくざい yakuzai | medicine; drug |
Related words
Words that share a kanji.
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 麻薬 | まやく mayaku | narcotic; drug; dope |
| 医薬品 | いやくひん iyakuhin | medical and pharmaceutical products; medicinal supplies; drugs |
| 製薬 | せいやく seiyaku | medicine manufacture; drug manufacture |
| 薬品 | やくひん yakuhin | medicine; drug |
| 薬局 | やっきょく yakkyoku | pharmacy; drugstore; chemist's (shop) |
| 火薬 | かやく kayaku | gunpowder; powder |
| 動物 | どうぶつ doubutsu | animal |
| 人物 | じんぶつ jinbutsu | person; character; figure |
See also: Chinese symbol for “drug”.
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.