King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Japanese symbol for “saliva”

Romaji: tsuba
saliva; spit; spittle

In Japanese, saliva is , read (tsuba).

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 saliva; spit; spittle

Written forms: . Readings: .

Kanji and stroke order

saliva, sputum
on: ダ、タ
kun: つば、つばき
11 strokes

Other Japanese words for “saliva”

WordReadingMeaning
だえき daekisaliva; sputum
なまつば namatsubasaliva (in one's mouth)
しんえき shin'ekisaliva; spit; spittle

Related words

Words that share a kanji.

WordReadingMeaning
だえき daekisaliva; sputum
だき dakidisdain; contempt; scorn
かたず katazusaliva held in one's mouth during times of tension
なまつば namatsubasaliva (in one's mouth)
まゆつばもの mayutsubamonodubious tale; cock-and-bull story; questionable information
だえきせん daekisensalivary gland

See also: Chinese symbol for “saliva”.

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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