Japanese symbol for “incarceration”
監禁
かんきん
Romaji: kankin
confinement; imprisonment; incarceration
In Japanese, incarceration is 監禁, read かんきん (kankin).
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
- n, vs, vt confinement; imprisonment; incarceration
Kanji and stroke order
Other Japanese words for “incarceration”
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 禁錮 | きんこ kinko | imprisonment (without forced labour); incarceration; confinement |
| 幽閉 | ゆうへい yuuhei | confinement; imprisonment; incarceration |
| 投獄 | とうごく tougoku | imprisonment; incarceration |
| 入所 | にゅうしょ nyuusho | imprisonment; incarceration; internment |
| 嵌頓 | かんとん kanton | incarceration (e.g. of a hernia); strangulation |
Related words
Words that share a kanji.
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 監督 | かんとく kantoku | supervision; control; superintendence |
| 監視 | かんし kanshi | monitoring; watching; observation |
| 監査 | かんさ kansa | inspection; audit; judgement |
| 監修 | かんしゅう kanshuu | (editorial) supervision; general editorship |
| 監獄 | かんごく kangoku | prison |
| 禁止 | きんし kinshi | prohibition; inhibition; ban |
| 禁煙 | きんえん kin'en | abstaining from smoking; quitting smoking |
| 解禁 | かいきん kaikin | lifting a ban; raising an embargo; opening a season (hunting, fishing, etc.) |
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.