Japanese symbol for “immense”
大変
たいへん
Romaji: taihen
very; greatly; terribly; awfully
In Japanese, immense is 大変, read たいへん (taihen).
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
- adv very; greatly; terribly; awfully
- adj-na, n immense; enormous; great
- adj-na, n serious; grave; dreadful; terrible
- adj-na, n difficult; hard; challenging
- n major incident; disaster
Written forms: 大変、大へん. Readings: たいへん.
Kanji and stroke order
Other Japanese words for “immense”
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 広大 | こうだい koudai | vast; extensive; immense |
| 絶大 | ぜつだい zetsudai | tremendous; immense; enormous |
| 素晴らしい | すばらしい subarashii | exceeding; incredible; remarkable |
| 莫大 | ばくだい bakudai | vast; huge; immense |
| 夥しい | おびただしい obitadashii | large number; innumerable; great many |
Related words
Words that share a kanji.
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 大丈夫 | だいじょうぶ daijoubu | safe; secure; sound |
| 大学 | だいがく daigaku | university; college |
| 最大 | さいだい saidai | biggest; greatest; largest |
| 大会 | たいかい taikai | mass meeting; convention; rally |
| 大統領 | だいとうりょう daitouryou | president (of a country) |
| 変更 | へんこう henkou | change; modification; alteration |
| 変化 | へんか henka | change; variation; alteration |
| 変わる | かわる kawaru | to change; to be transformed; to be altered |
See also: Chinese symbol for “immense”.
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.