King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Japanese symbol for “ineffective”

Romaji: mukou
invalid; void; ineffective; unavailable

In Japanese, ineffective is , read (mukou).

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, adj-no, n invalid; void; ineffective; unavailable

Kanji and stroke order

nothingness, none, ain't
on: ム、ブ
kun: な.い
12 strokes · JLPT 2
merit, efficacy, efficiency
on: コウ
kun: き.く、ききめ、なら.う
8 strokes · JLPT 2

Other Japanese words for “ineffective”

WordReadingMeaning
むなしい munashiivain; fruitless; futile

Related words

Words that share a kanji.

WordReadingMeaning
むりょう muryoufree (of charge); gratuitous
むり muriunreasonable; unnatural; unjustifiable
ぶじ bujisafety; security; peace
むだ mudafutility; waste; uselessness
むせん musenradio (communication)
むりやり muriyariforcibly; by force; against one's will
こうか koukaeffect; effectiveness; efficacy
ゆうこう yuukouvalid; effective

See also: Chinese symbol for “ineffective”.

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.

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