King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Japanese symbol for “evoke”

Romaji: kau
to buy; to purchase

In Japanese, evoke is , read (kau).

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. v5u, vt to buy; to purchase
  2. v5u, vt to value (highly); to think highly of; to have a high opinion of; to appreciate; to recognize
  3. v5u, vt to incur (someone's anger, displeasure, etc.); to elicit (e.g. sneers); to invite (e.g. scorn); to evoke; to arouse; to win (someone's favour)
  4. v5u, vt to accept; to take on; to take up
  5. v5u, vt to pay for (a prostitute, geisha, etc.)

Kanji and stroke order

buy
on: バイ
kun: か.う
12 strokes · JLPT 4

Other Japanese words for “evoke”

WordReadingMeaning
よびおこす yobiokosuto call (to mind); to bring back (memories); to evoke
よびさます yobisamasuto bring back (e.g. memories); to evoke; to recall

Related words

Words that share a kanji.

WordReadingMeaning
かいとり kaitoripurchase; buying; buying out
かいもの kaimonoshopping; purchased goods
ばいしゅう baishuuacquisition (esp. corporate); buy-out; takeover
ばいばい baibaitrade; buying and selling; trafficking (e.g. of humans, arms, drugs)
かい kaibuying; shopping

See also: Chinese symbol for “evoke”.

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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