Japanese symbol for “graduation”
卒業
そつぎょう
Romaji: sotsugyou
graduation; completion (of a course)
In Japanese, graduation is 卒業, read そつぎょう (sotsugyou).
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, vi, vs graduation; completion (of a course)
- n, vi, vs moving on (from); outgrowing (something)
- n, vi, vs leaving (a group, company, etc.); quitting
Kanji and stroke order
Other Japanese words for “graduation”
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 目 | め me | graduation; division (of a scale) |
| 卒 | そつ sotsu | graduation |
| 分画 | ぶんかく bunkaku | demarcation; graduation |
Related words
Words that share a kanji.
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 新卒 | しんそつ shinsotsu | new graduate; recent graduate |
| 大卒 | だいそつ daisotsu | university graduate; having graduated from university |
| 高卒 | こうそつ kousotsu | having graduated from high school (as one's highest completed level of education); high school graduate |
| 何卒 | なにとぞ nanitozo | please; kindly; I beg of you |
| 脳卒中 | のうそっちゅう nousotchuu | stroke; cerebral haemorrhage; cerebral hemorrhage |
| 企業 | きぎょう kigyou | enterprise; business; company |
| 事業 | じぎょう jigyou | business; enterprise; venture |
| 営業 | えいぎょう eigyou | business; trade; operations |
See also: Chinese symbol for “graduation”.
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.