Japanese symbol for “madcap”

素っ頓狂

すっとんきょう

Romaji: suttonkyou

wild; freakish; madcap; crazy

In Japanese, madcap is 素っ頓狂, read すっとんきょう (suttonkyou).

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-na wild; freakish; madcap; crazy; hysterical

Kanji and stroke order

素

elementary, principle, naked

on: ソ、ス
kun: もと

10 strokes · JLPT 1

頓

suddenly, immediately, in a hurry

on: トン、トツ
kun: にわか.に、とん.と、つまず.く、とみ.に

13 strokes

狂

lunatic, insane, crazy

on: キョウ
kun: くる.う、くる.おしい、くるお.しい

7 strokes · JLPT 1

Other Japanese words for “madcap”

Word	Reading	Meaning
頓狂	とんきょう tonkyou	wild; freakish; madcap

Related words

Words that share a kanji.

Word	Reading	Meaning
要素	ようそ youso	element; component; factor
素材	そざい sozai	ingredient; (raw) material; resource
素敵	すてき suteki	lovely; wonderful; charming
素人	しろうと shirouto	amateur; layman; ordinary person
素直	すなお sunao	obedient; meek; docile
酸素	さんそ sanso	oxygen (O)
整頓	せいとん seiton	orderliness; put in order; tidying up
頓挫	とんざ tonza	setback; deadlock; standstill
狂う	くるう kuruu	to go mad; to lose one's mind; to go crazy

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.