King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Japanese symbol for “precedent”

Romaji: zenrei
precedent

In Japanese, precedent is , read (zenrei).

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 precedent

Kanji and stroke order

in front, before
on: ゼン
kun: まえ、-まえ
9 strokes · JLPT 4
example, custom, usage
on: レイ
kun: たと.える
8 strokes · JLPT 2

Other Japanese words for “precedent”

WordReadingMeaning
せんれい senreiprecedent
れい reiprecedent
じれい jireiexample; precedent; case
ためし tameshiprecedent; example
じつれい jitsureiexample; illustration; precedent

Related words

Words that share a kanji.

WordReadingMeaning
なまえ namaename
いぜん izenbefore; prior to; ago
おまえ omaeyou
ぜんかい zenkaiprevious time; last time; previous installment
ごぜん gozenmorning; a.m.
あたりまえ atarimaenatural; reasonable; obvious
たとえば tatoebafor example; for instance; e.g.
れいがい reigaiexception

See also: Chinese symbol for “precedent”.

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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