King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Japanese symbol for “nurturing”

Romaji: hoiku
nurturing; rearing; childcare; day care

In Japanese, nurturing is , read (hoiku).

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, vs, vt nurturing; rearing; childcare; day care

Kanji and stroke order

protect, guarantee, keep
on: ホ、ホウ
kun: たも.つ
9 strokes · JLPT 2
bring up, grow up, raise
on: イク
kun: そだ.つ、そだ.ち、そだ.てる、はぐく.む
8 strokes · JLPT 2

Related words

Words that share a kanji.

WordReadingMeaning
ほご hogoprotection; safeguard; guardianship
ほけん hokeninsurance
かくほ kakuhosecuring; obtaining; ensuring
ほぞん hozonpreservation; conservation; storage
ほしょう hoshouguarantee; security; assurance
ほしゅ hoshumaintenance
きょういく kyouikueducation; schooling; training
たいいく taiikuphysical education; PE; gym (class)

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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