Japanese symbol for “inversion”
前後
ぜんご
Romaji: zengo
front and rear; front and back; before and behind; back and forth
In Japanese, inversion is 前後, read ぜんご (zengo).
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 front and rear; front and back; before and behind; back and forth
- n before and after
- adv, n, n-suf around; about; approximately
- n order; context
- n consequences
- n just when; around the time of
Kanji and stroke order
Other Japanese words for “inversion”
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 転化 | てんか tenka | change; transformation; inversion |
| 転倒 | てんとう tentou | inversion; reversal; turning upside-down |
| 倒錯 | とうさく tousaku | inversion |
| 反転 | はんてん hanten | turning around (the other way); reversal (of direction, course, etc.); inversion |
| 転回 | てんかい tenkai | inversion |
Related words
Words that share a kanji.
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 名前 | なまえ namae | name |
| 以前 | いぜん izen | before; prior to; ago |
| お前 | おまえ omae | you |
| 前回 | ぜんかい zenkai | previous time; last time; previous installment |
| 午前 | ごぜん gozen | morning; a.m. |
| 当たり前 | あたりまえ atarimae | natural; reasonable; obvious |
| 最後 | さいご saigo | end; conclusion |
| 今後 | こんご kongo | from now on; hereafter |
See also: Chinese symbol for “inversion”.
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.