King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Japanese symbol for “examine”

Romaji: miru
to see; to look; to watch; to view

In Japanese, examine is , read (miru).

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. v1, vt to see; to look; to watch; to view; to observe
  2. v1, vt to examine; to look over; to assess; to check; to judge
  3. v1, vt to look after; to attend to; to take care of; to keep an eye on
  4. v1, vt to experience; to meet with (misfortune, success, etc.)
  5. aux-v, v1 to try ...; to have a go at ...; to give ... a try
  6. aux-v, v1 to see (that) ...; to find (that) ...

Written forms: . Readings: .

Kanji and stroke order

see, hopes, chances
on: ケン
kun: み.る、み.える、み.せる
7 strokes · JLPT 4

Other Japanese words for “examine”

WordReadingMeaning
しらべる shiraberuto examine; to look up; to investigate
みる miruto examine (medically); to have a look at; to check (a patient's pulse)
あらためる aratameruto examine; to check; to inspect
かえりみる kaerimiruto reflect on (oneself, past conduct, etc.); to contemplate; to examine
とりしらべる torishiraberuto investigate; to examine

Related words

Words that share a kanji.

WordReadingMeaning
はっけん hakkendiscovery; detection; finding
いけん ikenopinion; view; comment
みえる mieruto be seen; to be visible; to be in sight
みかけ mikakeoutward appearance
かいけん kaikeninterview; audience; meeting

See also: Chinese symbol for “examine”.

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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