King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Japanese symbol for “philistine”

Romaji: zokubutsu
worldly-minded person; materialist; uncultured person; philistine

In Japanese, philistine is , read (zokubutsu).

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 worldly-minded person; materialist; uncultured person; philistine; vulgar person; snob

Kanji and stroke order

vulgar, customs, manners
on: ゾク
9 strokes · JLPT 1
thing, object, matter
on: ブツ、モツ
kun: もの、もの-
8 strokes · JLPT 3

Other Japanese words for “philistine”

WordReadingMeaning
ペリシテじん perishitejin(a) Philistine; Philistine people
ぼつふうりゅうかん botsufuuryuukanprosaic person; person of an unromantic turn of mind; philistine
きょうようのない kyouyounonaicrude; philistine; uncultivated

Related words

Words that share a kanji.

WordReadingMeaning
ふうぞく fuuzokumanners; customs
せぞく sezokuworldly things; common customs; ordinary life
ぞくご zokugocolloquialism; colloquial language; slang
みんぞく minzokufolk customs; folkways; ethnic customs
ていぞく teizokuvulgar; lowbrow; coarse
しゅうぞく shuuzokumanners and customs; folkways; usage
どうぶつ doubutsuanimal
じんぶつ jinbutsuperson; character; figure

See also: Chinese symbol for “philistine”.

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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