King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Japanese symbol for “new”

Romaji: atarashii
new; novel; fresh; recent

In Japanese, new is , read (atarashii).

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. adj-i new; novel; fresh; recent; latest; up-to-date

Written forms: . Readings: .

Kanji and stroke order

new
on: シン
kun: あたら.しい、あら.た、あら-、にい-
13 strokes · JLPT 4

Other Japanese words for “new”

WordReadingMeaning
あらた aratanew; fresh; novel
しんき shinkinew; fresh
はつ hatsufirst; new
しん shinnew; neo-
しんこう shinkourising; developing; emergent

Related words

Words that share a kanji.

WordReadingMeaning
しんぶん shinbunnewspaper
あらた aratanew; fresh; novel
しんき shinkinew; fresh
しんじん shinjinnewcomer; new figure; new member
しんかんせん shinkansenShinkansen; bullet train

See also: Chinese symbol for “new”.

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.