King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Japanese symbol for “loathe”

Romaji: kirau
to hate; to dislike; to loathe; to abhor

In Japanese, loathe is , read (kirau).

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. v5u, vt to hate; to dislike; to loathe; to abhor
  2. v5u, vt to avoid
  3. v5u, vt to disregard; to act without regard (for)
  4. v5u, vt to be bad for (e.g. dust in machinery)

Kanji and stroke order

dislike, detest, hate
on: ケン、ゲン
kun: きら.う、きら.い、いや
13 strokes · JLPT 1

Other Japanese words for “loathe”

WordReadingMeaning
いみきらう imikirauto detest; to abhor; to loathe
いましめる imashimeruto detest; to loathe

Related words

Words that share a kanji.

WordReadingMeaning
きらい kiraidisliking; hating; detesting
きげん kigenhumour; humor; temper
だいきらい daikiraihating; strongly disliking
けんお ken'odisgust; hate; repugnance
すききらい sukikirailikes and dislikes; tastes; preferences

See also: Chinese symbol for “loathe”.

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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