King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Japanese symbol for “formerly”

Romaji: ichiji
one o'clock

In Japanese, formerly is , read (ichiji).

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. n one o'clock
  2. adv, n once; at one time; formerly; before
  3. adj-no, adv, n for a time; for a while; for the time being; for the moment; temporarily
  4. n-pref a time; one time; once

Written forms: . Readings: .

Kanji and stroke order

one, one radical (no.1)
on: イチ、イツ
kun: ひと-、ひと.つ
1 strokes · JLPT 4
time, hour
on: ジ
kun: とき、-どき
10 strokes · JLPT 4

Other Japanese words for “formerly”

WordReadingMeaning
きゅうらい kyuuraitraditional; from ancient times; formerly
ふるく furukuanciently; formerly
もと motoformerly; previously; originally
かつて katsuteonce; before; formerly
さきに sakinipreviously; before; earlier

Related words

Words that share a kanji.

WordReadingMeaning
いっしょ issho(doing) together
いちばん ichibannumber one; first; first place
ひとつ hitotsuone
いっぱん ippangeneral; universal
いちぶ ichibuone part; one portion; one section
いっぽう ippouone (esp. of two); the other; one way
じかん jikantime
じだい jidaiperiod; epoch; era

See also: Chinese symbol for “formerly”.

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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