King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Japanese symbol for “inborn”

Romaji: sententeki
inborn; innate; inherent; congenital

In Japanese, inborn is , read (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

  1. adj-na inborn; innate; inherent; congenital; hereditary
  2. adj-na a priori (phil)

Kanji and stroke order

before, ahead, previous
on: セン
kun: さき、ま.ず
6 strokes · JLPT 4
heavens, sky, imperial
on: テン
kun: あまつ、あめ、あま-
4 strokes · JLPT 4
bull's eye, mark, target
on: テキ
kun: まと
8 strokes · JLPT 2

Other Japanese words for “inborn”

WordReadingMeaning
もちまえ mochimaenatural; inborn; innate
うまれながら umarenagaraby nature; naturally; by birth
てんぷ tenpunatural (e.g. talent); innate; inborn
ほんぜん honzennatural; inborn; inherent
せいとくてき seitokutekiinnate; inherent; natural

Related words

Words that share a kanji.

WordReadingMeaning
せんせい senseiteacher; instructor; master
ゆうせん yuusenpreference; priority; precedence
せんぱい senpaisenior (at school, work, etc.); superior; elder
せんじつ senjitsuthe other day; a few days ago
せんしゅう senshuulast week; the week before
せんげつ sengetsulast month
てんのう tennouEmperor of Japan
てんき tenkiweather
もくてき mokutekipurpose; goal; aim

See also: Chinese symbol for “inborn”.

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.