Japanese symbol for “inedible”
食えない
くえない
Romaji: kuenai
shrewd; smart (and wide-awake); cunning; crafty
In Japanese, inedible is 食えない, read くえない (kuenai).
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-i, exp shrewd; smart (and wide-awake); cunning; crafty
- adj-i, exp inedible; uneatable
- adj-i, exp unable to support oneself; unable to keep body and soul together
Kanji and stroke order
Related words
Words that share a kanji.
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 食事 | しょくじ shokuji | meal (e.g. lunch, dinner) |
| 食品 | しょくひん shokuhin | food; food products; foodstuffs |
| 食べ物 | たべもの tabemono | food |
| 食料 | しょくりょう shokuryou | food |
| 食べる | たべる taberu | to eat |
| 食う | くう kuu | to eat |
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.