King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Japanese symbol for “expressway”

Romaji: kousoku
high-speed; rapid; express

In Japanese, expressway is , read (kousoku).

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. adj-na, adj-no, n high-speed; rapid; express
  2. n highway; freeway; expressway; motorway

Kanji and stroke order

tall, high, expensive
on: コウ
kun: たか.い、たか、-だか、たか.まる
10 strokes · JLPT 4
quick, fast
on: ソク
kun: はや.い、はや-、はや.める、すみ.やか
10 strokes · JLPT 2

Other Japanese words for “expressway”

WordReadingMeaning
こうそくどうろ kousokudourohighway; freeway; expressway
だんがんどうろ dangandouroexpressway; superhighway
じどうしゃどう jidoushadouexpressway; motorway
じどうしゃせんようどうろ jidoushasen'youdouroexpressway; motorway; freeway
エクスプレスウェイ ekusupuresuweiexpressway; freeway; motorway

Related words

Words that share a kanji.

WordReadingMeaning
さいこう saikoubest; supreme; wonderful
たかい takaihigh; tall
こうこう koukousenior high school; high school
こうこうせい koukouseisenior high school student
こうれい koureiadvanced age; old age
そくど sokudospeed; velocity; pace
きゅうそく kyuusokurapid (e.g. progress)
かそく kasokuacceleration; speeding up

See also: Chinese symbol for “expressway”.

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.