King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Japanese symbol for “hive”

Romaji: su
nest; rookery; breeding place; hive

In Japanese, hive is , read (su).

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 nest; rookery; breeding place; hive
  2. n den
  3. n haunt
  4. n (spider's) web

Written forms: . Readings: .

Kanji and stroke order

nest, rookery, hive
on: ソウ
kun: す、す.くう
11 strokes · JLPT 1

Other Japanese words for “hive”

WordReadingMeaning
ネスト nesutonest; hive; rookery
はちす hachisuhive; beehive
はちのす hachinosubeehive; hive; honeycomb
ほうぼう houbouhive; beehive
ほうか houkabeehive; hive; honeycomb

Related words

Words that share a kanji.

WordReadingMeaning
あきす akisuempty nest
ふるす furusuold haunts; former homes
らんそう ransouovary
すだち sudachileaving the nest
びょうそう byousoufocus; nidus; lesion
すばこ subakobirdhouse; nest box; bird box

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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