Japanese symbol for “reticence”
沈黙
ちんもく
Romaji: chinmoku
silence; being silent; quiet; hush
In Japanese, reticence is 沈黙, read ちんもく (chinmoku).
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
- n, vi, vs silence; being silent; quiet; hush
- n, vi, vs reticence; inaction
Kanji and stroke order
Other Japanese words for “reticence”
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 寡言 | かげん kagen | reticence; taciturnity |
| 隔意 | かくい kakui | reserve; reticence; unfriendliness |
Related words
Words that share a kanji.
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 沈没 | ちんぼつ chinbotsu | sinking; foundering; going down |
| 沈む | しずむ shizumu | to sink; to go under; to submerge |
| 沈静 | ちんせい chinsei | settling down; quieting down; cooling down |
| 撃沈 | げきちん gekichin | (attacking and) sinking (a ship); sending (a ship) to the bottom |
| 沈着 | ちんちゃく chinchaku | composure; calmness; self-possession |
| 黙る | だまる damaru | to be silent; to say nothing |
| 暗黙 | あんもく anmoku | tacit; unspoken; implicit |
| 黙認 | もくにん mokunin | tacit approval; tacit permission; connivance |
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.