King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Japanese symbol for “pumpkin”

Romaji: kabocha
pumpkin (Cucurbita sp.); squash

In Japanese, pumpkin is , read (kabocha).

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 pumpkin (Cucurbita sp.); squash

Written forms: . Readings: .

Kanji and stroke order

south
on: ナン、ナ
kun: みなみ
9 strokes · JLPT 4
melon
on: カ、ケ
kun: うり
6 strokes

Other Japanese words for “pumpkin”

WordReadingMeaning
パンプキン panpukinpumpkin
ナンキン nankinpumpkin; squash
とうなす tounasusquash; pumpkin

Related words

Words that share a kanji.

WordReadingMeaning
なんぶ nanbusouthern part; the south (of a region)
なんぼく nanbokunorth and south; north to south
なんせい nanseisouthwest
なんとう nantousoutheast
なんきょく nankyokuSouth Pole
なんべい nanbeiSouth America
すいか suikawatermelon (Citrullus lanatus)
きゅうり kyuuricucumber (Cucumis sativus)

See also: Chinese symbol for “pumpkin”.

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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