Japanese symbol for “inane”

間抜け

まぬけ

Romaji: manuke

stupid; foolish; idiotic; inane

In Japanese, inane is 間抜け, read まぬけ (manuke).

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, n stupid; foolish; idiotic; inane
n fool; idiot; blockhead; half-wit

Written forms: 間抜け. Readings: まぬけ、マヌケ.

Kanji and stroke order

間

interval, space

on: カン、ケン
kun: あいだ、ま、あい

12 strokes · JLPT 4

抜

slip out, extract, pull out

on: バツ、ハツ、ハイ
kun: ぬ.く、-ぬ.く、ぬ.き、ぬ.ける

7 strokes · JLPT 2

Related words

Words that share a kanji.

Word	Reading	Meaning
時間	じかん jikan	time
人間	にんげん ningen	human being; human; person
期間	きかん kikan	period; term; interval
年間	ねんかん nenkan	(period of) a year
仲間	なかま nakama	companion; fellow; friend
間違い	まちがい machigai	mistake; error; blunder
抜群	ばつぐん batsugun	outstanding; excellent; exceptional
抜き	ぬき nuki	leaving out; omitting; skipping

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.