Japanese symbol for “life”
生活
せいかつ
Romaji: seikatsu
life; living
In Japanese, life is 生活, read せいかつ (seikatsu).
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, vi, vs life; living
- n livelihood; (one's) living
Kanji and stroke order
Other Japanese words for “life”
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 人生 | じんせい jinsei | (one's) life |
| 命 | いのち inochi | life; life force |
| 生命 | せいめい seimei | life; existence |
| 暮らし | くらし kurashi | (way of) life; lifestyle; living |
| 生涯 | しょうがい shougai | life; lifetime; career |
Related words
Words that share a kanji.
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 先生 | せんせい sensei | teacher; instructor; master |
| 人生 | じんせい jinsei | (one's) life |
| 学生 | がくせい gakusei | student (esp. a university student) |
| 発生 | はっせい hassei | occurrence; incidence; outbreak |
| 誕生 | たんじょう tanjou | birth (of a person); nativity |
| 活動 | かつどう katsudou | activity (of a person, organization, animal, volcano, etc.); action; operation |
| 活躍 | かつやく katsuyaku | activity (esp. energetic or successful); great efforts; active participation |
| 復活 | ふっかつ fukkatsu | revival (of an old system, custom, fashion, etc.); restoration; return |
See also: Chinese symbol for “life”.
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.