King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Japanese symbol for “malfunction”

Romaji: shitchou
lack of harmony; lack of balance; lack of coordination; malfunction

In Japanese, malfunction is , read (shitchou).

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. n lack of harmony; lack of balance; lack of coordination; malfunction
  2. n ataxia (med)

Kanji and stroke order

lose, error, fault
on: シツ
kun: うしな.う、う.せる
5 strokes · JLPT 2
tune, tone, meter
on: チョウ
kun: しら.べる、しら.べ、ととの.う、ととの.える
15 strokes · JLPT 2

Other Japanese words for “malfunction”

WordReadingMeaning
ふぐあい fuguaiflaw; defect; problem
ごどうさ godousamalfunction
くるう kuruuto get out of order; to go amiss; to malfunction
トラブル toraburufailure (of an engine, machine, computer, etc.); breakdown; malfunction
ごさどう gosadoumalfunction; failure

Related words

Words that share a kanji.

WordReadingMeaning
しっぱい shippaifailure; mistake; blunder
そんしつ sonshitsuloss (of assets, profit, etc.)
うしなう ushinauto lose
しつぎょう shitsugyouunemployment
しつれい shitsureidiscourtesy; impoliteness
そうしつ soushitsuloss; forfeit
ちょうさ chousainvestigation; examination; inquiry
しらべ shirabeinvestigation; inspection; examination

See also: Chinese symbol for “malfunction”.

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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