King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Japanese symbol for “herb”

Romaji: kusa
grass; weed; herb; thatch

In Japanese, herb is , read (kusa).

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 grass; weed; herb; thatch
  2. n ninja
  3. n marijuana; cannabis
  4. pref not genuine; substandard
  5. exp LOL; haha

Written forms: . Readings: .

Kanji and stroke order

grass, weeds, herbs
on: ソウ
kun: くさ、くさ-、-ぐさ
9 strokes · JLPT 2

Other Japanese words for “herb”

WordReadingMeaning
ハーブ haabuherb
そうほん souhonherbaceous plant; herb
こうそう kousouherb; fragrant grass

Related words

Words that share a kanji.

WordReadingMeaning
タバコ tabakotobacco; cigarette; cigar
そうげん sougengrassy field; grassland; meadow
ざっそう zassouweed
そうしょく soushokuherbivorous; plant-eating; graminivorous
くさき kusakiplants; vegetation
そうあん souandraft (for a speech, bill, etc.)

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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