King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Japanese symbol for “naught”

Romaji: mu
nothing; naught; nought; nil

In Japanese, naught is , read (mu).

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 nothing; naught; nought; nil; zero
  2. pref un-; non-

Written forms: . Readings: .

Kanji and stroke order

nothingness, none, ain't
on: ム、ブ
kun: な.い
12 strokes · JLPT 2

Other Japanese words for “naught”

WordReadingMeaning
ぜつむ zetsumunothing; nil; naught
とび tobizero; naught; oh
とんで tondezero; naught; oh
みずのあわ mizunoawa(coming to) nothing; naught

Related words

Words that share a kanji.

WordReadingMeaning
むりょう muryoufree (of charge); gratuitous
むり muriunreasonable; unnatural; unjustifiable
ぶじ bujisafety; security; peace
むだ mudafutility; waste; uselessness
むせん musenradio (communication)
むりやり muriyariforcibly; by force; against one's will

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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