King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Japanese symbol for “muck”

Romaji: obutsu
filth (esp. excrement, feces, urine); muck; waste; garbage

In Japanese, muck is , read (obutsu).

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 filth (esp. excrement, feces, urine); muck; waste; garbage; dirt; dust

Kanji and stroke order

dirty, pollute, disgrace
on: オ
kun: けが.す、けが.れる、けが.らわしい、よご.す
6 strokes · JLPT 2
thing, object, matter
on: ブツ、モツ
kun: もの、もの-
8 strokes · JLPT 3

Other Japanese words for “muck”

WordReadingMeaning
はいせき haisekimullock (waste rock from a mine); muck; debris
おわい owaimuck; filth; dirt

Related words

Words that share a kanji.

WordReadingMeaning
おせん osenpollution; contamination
よごれ yogoredirt; filth; stain
おしょく oshokucorruption (esp. by a government employee); bribery; graft
きたない kitanaidirty; filthy; foul
よごれる yogoreruto get dirty; to become dirty
どうぶつ doubutsuanimal
じんぶつ jinbutsuperson; character; figure
ものがたり monogataristory; tale; narrative

See also: Chinese symbol for “muck”.

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.