King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Japanese symbol for “nought”

Romaji: rei
zero; nought

In Japanese, nought is , read (rei).

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 zero; nought

Written forms: . Readings: .

Kanji and stroke order

zero, spill, overflow
on: レイ
kun: ぜろ、こぼ.す、こぼ.れる
13 strokes · JLPT 2

Other Japanese words for “nought”

WordReadingMeaning
む munothing; naught; nought
ぜつむ zetsumunothing; nil; naught
ゼロ zerozero; 0; nought

Related words

Words that share a kanji.

WordReadingMeaning
れいさい reisaiinsignificant; trifling; paltry
れいか reikabelow zero; sub-zero
こぼれる koboreruto spill; to fall out of; to overflow
こぼれ koborespilling; spill
れいじ reijitwelve o'clock; midnight; noon
こぼす kobosuto spill; to drop; to shed (tears)

See also: Chinese symbol for “nought”.

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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