King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Japanese symbol for “scarlet”

Romaji: akai
red; crimson; scarlet; vermilion

In Japanese, scarlet is , read (akai).

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. adj-i red; crimson; scarlet; vermilion
  2. adj-i Red; communist

Written forms: . Readings: .

Kanji and stroke order

red
on: セキ、シャク
kun: あか、あか-、あか.い、あか.らむ
7 strokes · JLPT 3

Other Japanese words for “scarlet”

WordReadingMeaning
あけ akered; vermilion; cinnabar
あか akared; crimson; scarlet
スカーレット sukaarettoscarlet
ひ hiscarlet; crimson; cardinal red
ひいろ hiiroscarlet; cardinal red

Related words

Words that share a kanji.

WordReadingMeaning
あかちゃん akachanbaby; infant
あかじ akaji(being in) the red; deficit
まっか makkabright red; deep red; flushed (of face)
あかんぼう akanboubaby; infant
あかいろ akairored; red color

See also: Chinese symbol for “scarlet”.

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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