Japanese symbol for “fishy”
変
へん
Romaji: hen
strange; odd; peculiar; weird
In Japanese, fishy is 変, read へん (hen).
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
- adj-na strange; odd; peculiar; weird; curious; eccentric
- adj-na unexpected
- n change
- n incident; disturbance; disaster; accident; emergency
- n-pref flat (music)
Written forms: 変、變. Readings: へん、ヘン.
Kanji and stroke order
Other Japanese words for “fishy”
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 怪しい | あやしい ayashii | suspicious; dubious; questionable |
| 生臭い | なまぐさい namagusai | smelling of fish; fishy; smelling of blood |
| 胡散臭い | うさんくさい usankusai | suspicious-looking; shady; questionable |
| 臭い | くさい kusai | suspicious; fishy |
| 胡乱 | うろん uron | suspicious-looking; fishy |
Related words
Words that share a kanji.
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 大変 | たいへん taihen | very; greatly; terribly |
| 変更 | へんこう henkou | change; modification; alteration |
| 変化 | へんか henka | change; variation; alteration |
| 変わる | かわる kawaru | to change; to be transformed; to be altered |
| 変動 | へんどう hendou | change; fluctuation |
| 変身 | へんしん henshin | metamorphosis; disguise; transformation |
See also: Chinese symbol for “fishy”.
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.