Japanese symbol for “muni”

牟尼

むに

Romaji: muni

muni (Indian ascetic or sage)

In Japanese, muni is 牟尼, read むに (muni).

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 muni (Indian ascetic or sage)
n Buddha

Written forms: 牟尼、文尼. Readings: むに.

Kanji and stroke order

牟

pupil (eye), moo (cow sound)

on: ボウ、ム

6 strokes

尼

nun

on: ニ
kun: あま

5 strokes · JLPT 1

Related words

Words that share a kanji.

Word	Reading	Meaning
釈迦牟尼	しゃかむに shakamuni	Gautama Buddha; Shakyamuni; the historical Buddha (5th century BCE?)
牟子	むし mushi	conical hat with a veil
尼僧	にそう nisou	Buddhist nun
比丘尼	びくに bikuni	bhikkhuni (fully ordained Buddhist nun)
尼寺	あまでら amadera	nunnery; convent
陀羅尼	だらに darani	dharani; spell; litany
禅尼	ぜんに zenni	Zen nun

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.