Japanese symbol for “revive”

生き返る

いきかえる

Romaji: ikikaeru

to revive; to come to oneself; to be restored to life

In Japanese, revive is 生き返る, read いきかえる (ikikaeru).

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

v5r, vi to revive; to come to oneself; to be restored to life

Written forms: 生き返る、生返る、生きかえる. Readings: いきかえる.

Kanji and stroke order

生

life, genuine, birth

on: セイ、ショウ
kun: い.きる、い.かす、い.ける、う.まれる

5 strokes · JLPT 4

返

return, answer, fade

on: ヘン
kun: かえ.す、-かえ.す、かえ.る、-かえ.る

7 strokes · JLPT 2

Other Japanese words for “revive”

Word	Reading	Meaning
直す	なおす naosu	to repair; to mend; to fix
生かす	いかす ikasu	to revive; to resuscitate; to bring back to life
興す	おこす okosu	to vitalize (e.g. an industry); to invigorate; to energize
吹き返す	ふきかえす fukikaesu	to blow in the opposite direction; to revive
立て直す	たてなおす tatenaosu	to restore (to former strength); to revive (e.g. the economy); to reorganize

Related words

Words that share a kanji.

Word	Reading	Meaning
生活	せいかつ seikatsu	life; living
先生	せんせい sensei	teacher; instructor; master
人生	じんせい jinsei	(one's) life
学生	がくせい gakusei	student (esp. a university student)
発生	はっせい hassei	occurrence; incidence; outbreak
誕生	たんじょう tanjou	birth (of a person); nativity
返事	へんじ henji	reply; answer; response
繰り返す	くりかえす kurikaesu	to repeat; to do over again

See also: Chinese symbol for “revive”.

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.