Japanese symbol for “eminence”

出世

しゅっせ

Romaji: shusse

success in life; getting ahead; successful career; promotion

In Japanese, eminence is 出世, read しゅっせ (shusse).

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, vi, vs success in life; getting ahead; successful career; promotion; climbing the corporate ladder; eminence

Kanji and stroke order

出

exit, leave, go out

on: シュツ、スイ
kun: で.る、-で、だ.す、-だ.す

5 strokes · JLPT 4

世

generation, world, society

on: セイ、セ、ソウ
kun: よ

5 strokes · JLPT 3

Other Japanese words for “eminence”

Word	Reading	Meaning
台地	だいち daichi	plateau; tableland; eminence

Related words

Words that share a kanji.

Word	Reading	Meaning
出演	しゅつえん shutsuen	appearance (in a film, play, TV show, etc.); performance
出す	だす dasu	to take out; to get out
出る	でる deru	to leave; to exit; to go out
出来る	できる dekiru	to be able to do; to be possible; to be permitted (to do)
出身	しゅっしん shusshin	one's origin (e.g. city, country, parentage, school)
演出	えんしゅつ enshutsu	direction (of a play, film, etc.); production
世界	せかい sekai	the world; society; the universe
世代	せだい sedai	generation

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.