Japanese symbol for “paltry”
零細
れいさい
Romaji: reisai
insignificant; trifling; paltry; cottage (industry)
In Japanese, paltry is 零細, read れいさい (reisai).
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
- adj-na insignificant; trifling; paltry; cottage (industry); tiny (company)
Kanji and stroke order
Other Japanese words for “paltry”
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| ぽっち | ぽっち potchi | paltry; trifling; piddling |
| 腐れ | くされ kusare | rotten; worthless; paltry |
| 無けなし | なけなし nakenashi | what little ... one has; tiny amount of; paltry |
| 寡少 | かしょう kashou | exceedingly little; exceedingly few; scanty |
| 貧小 | ひんしょう hinshou | petty; trivial; trifling |
Related words
Words that share a kanji.
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 零下 | れいか reika | below zero; sub-zero |
| 零れる | こぼれる koboreru | to spill; to fall out of; to overflow |
| 零れ | こぼれ kobore | spilling; spill |
| 零時 | れいじ reiji | twelve o'clock; midnight; noon |
| 零す | こぼす kobosu | to spill; to drop; to shed (tears) |
| 詳細 | しょうさい shousai | details; particulars; specifics |
| 細胞 | さいぼう saibou | cell |
| 細かい | こまかい komakai | small |
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.