Japanese symbol for “forties”

４０年代

よんじゅうねんだい

Romaji: yonjuunendai

the '40s; the forties

In Japanese, forties is ４０年代, read よんじゅうねんだい (yonjuunendai).

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 the '40s; the forties

Kanji and stroke order

年

year, counter for years

on: ネン
kun: とし

6 strokes · JLPT 4

代

substitute, change, convert

on: ダイ、タイ
kun: か.わる、かわ.る、かわ.り、か.わり

5 strokes · JLPT 3

Other Japanese words for “forties”

Word	Reading	Meaning
４０代	よんじゅうだい yonjuudai	(one's) 40s; forties

Related words

Words that share a kanji.

Word	Reading	Meaning
今年	ことし kotoshi	this year
年間	ねんかん nenkan	(period of) a year
少年	しょうねん shounen	boy
年齢	ねんれい nenrei	age; years
年度	ねんど nendo	fiscal year (usu. April 1 to March 31 in Japan); financial year
年代	ねんだい nendai	age; era; period
時代	じだい jidai	period; epoch; era
代表	だいひょう daihyou	representation; representative; delegate

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.