Japanese symbol for “meat”
肉
にく
Romaji: niku
flesh
In Japanese, meat is 肉, read にく (niku).
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 flesh
- n meat
- n flesh (of a fruit); pulp
- n the physical body (as opposed to the spirit); flesh
- n thickness
- n content; substance; flesh
Kanji and stroke order
Other Japanese words for “meat”
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 食肉 | しょくにく shokuniku | meat (for consumption) |
| 身 | み mi | main part; meat (as opposed to bone, skin, etc.); wood (as opposed to bark) |
| 肉類 | にくるい nikurui | (kinds of) meat |
| ミート | ミート miito | meat |
| 精肉 | せいにく seiniku | (good quality) meat; processed meat; small goods |
Related words
Words that share a kanji.
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 筋肉 | きんにく kinniku | muscle |
| 肉体 | にくたい nikutai | the body; the flesh; the outer man |
| 皮肉 | ひにく hiniku | irony; sarcasm; cynicism |
| 牛肉 | ぎゅうにく gyuuniku | beef |
| 焼肉 | やきにく yakiniku | yakiniku; Japanese dish of grilled meat similar to Korean barbecue |
| 豚肉 | ぶたにく butaniku | pork |
See also: Chinese symbol for “meat”.
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.