Japanese symbol for “midnight”
真夜中
まよなか
Romaji: mayonaka
dead of night; midnight
In Japanese, midnight is 真夜中, read まよなか (mayonaka).
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
- adv, n dead of night; midnight
Kanji and stroke order
Other Japanese words for “midnight”
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| ミッドナイト | ミッドナイト middonaito | midnight |
| 正子 | しょうし shoushi | midnight |
| 半夜 | はんや han'ya | midnight |
| 零時 | れいじ reiji | twelve o'clock; midnight; noon |
| 丑三つ | うしみつ ushimitsu | dead of the night; midnight |
Related words
Words that share a kanji.
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 写真 | しゃしん shashin | photograph; photo; picture |
| 真実 | しんじつ shinjitsu | truth; reality |
| 真ん中 | まんなか mannaka | middle; centre; center |
| 真相 | しんそう shinsou | truth; real situation |
| 真理 | しんり shinri | truth |
| 真剣 | しんけん shinken | serious; earnest |
| 今夜 | こんや kon'ya | this evening; tonight |
| 夜間 | やかん yakan | night; nighttime |
| 中心 | ちゅうしん chuushin | center; centre; middle |
See also: Chinese symbol for “midnight”.
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.