Japanese symbol for “faulting”

断層運動

だんそううんどう

Romaji: dansouundou

fault movement; fault motion; faulting

In Japanese, faulting is 断層運動, read だんそううんどう (dansouundou).

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 fault movement; fault motion; faulting

Kanji and stroke order

断

severance, decline, refuse

on: ダン
kun: た.つ、ことわ.る、さだ.める

11 strokes · JLPT 2

層

stratum, social class, layer

on: ソウ

14 strokes · JLPT 2

運

carry, luck, destiny

on: ウン
kun: はこ.ぶ

12 strokes · JLPT 3

動

move, motion, change

on: ドウ
kun: うご.く、うご.かす

11 strokes · JLPT 3

Related words

Words that share a kanji.

Word	Reading	Meaning
判断	はんだん handan	judgment; judgement; decision
診断	しんだん shindan	diagnosis; medical examination
決断	けつだん ketsudan	decision; determination
無断	むだん mudan	absence of permission; lack of permission
中断	ちゅうだん chuudan	interruption; suspension; break
断念	だんねん dannen	abandoning (hope, plans); giving up
一層	いっそう issou	even more; still more; all the more
高層	こうそう kousou	high-rise (building); multistory; multistoried
運動	うんどう undou	exercise; physical training; workout
活動	かつどう katsudou	activity (of a person, organization, animal, volcano, etc.); action; operation

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.