King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Japanese symbol for “merits”

Romaji: yuuretsu
(relative) merits; superiority or inferiority; quality

In Japanese, merits is , read (yuuretsu).

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 (relative) merits; superiority or inferiority; quality

Kanji and stroke order

tenderness, excel, surpass
on: ユウ、ウ
kun: やさ.しい、すぐ.れる、まさ.る
17 strokes · JLPT 2
inferiority, be inferior to, be worse
on: レツ
kun: おと.る
6 strokes · JLPT 1

Other Japanese words for “merits”

WordReadingMeaning
くんこう kunkoumerits; distinguished services
じせき jisekiachievement; deed; exploit
きょくちょく kyokuchokumerits (of a case); right or wrong
ほんあん hon'anmerits

Related words

Words that share a kanji.

WordReadingMeaning
ゆうしょう yuushouoverall victory; championship; winning the title
じょゆう joyuuactress; female actor
ゆうせん yuusenpreference; priority; precedence
ゆうしゅう yuushuusuperior; excellent; brilliant
はいゆう haiyuuactor; actress; player
やさしい yasashiitender; kind; gentle
れっか rekkadeterioration (in quality, performance, etc.); degradation; worsening
おとる otoruto be inferior to; to be less good at; to fall behind

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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