Japanese symbol for “erosion”

浸食

しんしょく

Romaji: shinshoku

erosion; corrosion

In Japanese, erosion is 浸食, read しんしょく (shinshoku).

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 erosion; corrosion (geol)

Written forms: 浸食、浸蝕. Readings: しんしょく.

Kanji and stroke order

浸

immersed, soak, dip

on: シン
kun: ひた.す、ひた.る、つ.かる

10 strokes · JLPT 1

食

eat, food

on: ショク、ジキ
kun: く.う、く.らう、た.べる、は.む

9 strokes · JLPT 4

Other Japanese words for “erosion”

Word	Reading	Meaning
腐食	ふしょく fushoku	rot; decay; erosion
侵食	しんしょく shinshoku	encroachment; invasion; erosion (e.g. of market share, rights)
水食	すいしょく suishoku	(water) erosion
溶損	ようそん youson	erosion; dissolved loss
糜爛	びらん biran	sore; erosion; ulceration

Related words

Words that share a kanji.

Word	Reading	Meaning
浸透	しんとう shintou	permeation (of thought, ideology, culture, etc.); infiltration (e.g. of ideas); spread
浸かる	つかる tsukaru	to be submerged; to be soaked
浸水	しんすい shinsui	inundation; submersion; flood
浸る	ひたる hitaru	to be soaked in; to be flooded; to be submerged
水浸し	みずびたし mizubitashi	submersion; inundation; being flooded
食事	しょくじ shokuji	meal (e.g. lunch, dinner)
食品	しょくひん shokuhin	food; food products; foodstuffs
食べ物	たべもの tabemono	food

See also: Chinese symbol for “erosion”.

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.