King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Japanese symbol for “pollute”

Romaji: yogosu
to pollute; to contaminate; to soil; to make dirty

In Japanese, pollute is , read (yogosu).

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. v5s, vt to pollute; to contaminate; to soil; to make dirty; to stain
  2. v5s, vt to disgrace; to dishonour; to dishonor; to defile

Written forms: . Readings: .

Kanji and stroke order

dirty, pollute, disgrace
on: オ
kun: けが.す、けが.れる、けが.らわしい、よご.す
6 strokes · JLPT 2

Related words

Words that share a kanji.

WordReadingMeaning
おせん osenpollution; contamination
よごれ yogoredirt; filth; stain
おしょく oshokucorruption (esp. by a government employee); bribery; graft
きたない kitanaidirty; filthy; foul
よごれる yogoreruto get dirty; to become dirty
おぶつ obutsufilth (esp. excrement, feces, urine); muck; waste

See also: Chinese symbol for “pollute”.

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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