Japanese symbol for “sacrilege”
冒涜
ぼうとく
Romaji: boutoku
blasphemy; profanity; sacrilege; desecration
In Japanese, sacrilege is 冒涜, read ぼうとく (boutoku).
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, vs, vt blasphemy; profanity; sacrilege; desecration; defilement
Written forms: 冒涜、冒とく、冒瀆、冒讀. Readings: ぼうとく.
Kanji and stroke order
Related words
Words that share a kanji.
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 冒険 | ぼうけん bouken | adventure; venture |
| 冒頭 | ぼうとう boutou | beginning; opening; start |
| 冒す | おかす okasu | to brave; to risk; to face |
| 感冒 | かんぼう kanbou | (common) cold |
| 冒険者 | ぼうけんしゃ boukensha | adventurer |
| 涜神 | とくしん tokushin | blasphemy |
| 涜職 | とくしょく tokushoku | corruption (esp. by a government employee); bribery |
| 自涜 | じとく jitoku | masturbation |
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.