Japanese symbol for “hereditary”
先天的
せんてんてき
Romaji: sententeki
inborn; innate; inherent; congenital
In Japanese, hereditary is 先天的, read せんてんてき (sententeki).
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 inborn; innate; inherent; congenital; hereditary
- adj-na a priori (phil)
Kanji and stroke order
Other Japanese words for “hereditary”
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 先天性 | せんてんせい sentensei | hereditary; congenital |
| 世伝 | せいでん seiden | hereditary (estates) |
| 祖先伝来 | そせんでんらい sosendenrai | hereditary |
| 父祖伝来 | ふそでんらい fusodenrai | hereditary; patrimonial; handed down from generation to generation |
| 世襲的 | せしゅうてき seshuuteki | hereditary |
Related words
Words that share a kanji.
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 先生 | せんせい sensei | teacher; instructor; master |
| 優先 | ゆうせん yuusen | preference; priority; precedence |
| 先輩 | せんぱい senpai | senior (at school, work, etc.); superior; elder |
| 先日 | せんじつ senjitsu | the other day; a few days ago |
| 先週 | せんしゅう senshuu | last week; the week before |
| 先月 | せんげつ sengetsu | last month |
| 天皇 | てんのう tennou | Emperor of Japan |
| 天気 | てんき tenki | weather |
| 目的 | もくてき mokuteki | purpose; goal; aim |
See also: Chinese symbol for “hereditary”.
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.