Japanese symbol for “nighttime”
夜間
やかん
Romaji: yakan
night; nighttime
In Japanese, nighttime is 夜間, read やかん (yakan).
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 night; nighttime
Kanji and stroke order
Other Japanese words for “nighttime”
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 夜分 | やぶん yabun | evening; night; nighttime |
Related words
Words that share a kanji.
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 今夜 | こんや kon'ya | this evening; tonight |
| 深夜 | しんや shin'ya | late at night |
| 夜中 | よなか yonaka | middle of the night; dead of night |
| 徹夜 | てつや tetsuya | staying up all night |
| 夜明け | よあけ yoake | dawn; daybreak |
| 時間 | じかん jikan | time |
| 人間 | にんげん ningen | human being; human; person |
| 期間 | きかん kikan | period; term; interval |
See also: Chinese symbol for “nighttime”.
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.