King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Japanese symbol for “scratch”

Romaji: kizu
wound; injury; cut; gash

In Japanese, scratch is , read (kizu).

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 wound; injury; cut; gash; bruise; scratch
  2. n chip; crack; scratch; nick
  3. n flaw; defect; weakness; weak point
  4. n stain (on one's reputation); disgrace; dishonor; dishonour
  5. n (emotional) hurt; hurt feelings

Written forms: . Readings: .

Kanji and stroke order

wound, hurt, injure
on: ショウ
kun: きず、いた.む、いた.める
13 strokes · JLPT 1

Other Japanese words for “scratch”

WordReadingMeaning
すりきず surikizuscratch; graze; scrape
はくし hakushiscratch; beginning
きざ kizascratch
かく kakuto scratch
きずつける kizutsukeruto damage; to chip; to scratch

Related words

Words that share a kanji.

WordReadingMeaning
ふしょう fushouinjury; wound
きずつける kizutsukeruto wound; to injure
じゅうしょう juushouserious wound; serious injury
しょうがい shougaiinjury; inflicting bodily injury
ちゅうしょう chuushouslander; libel; defamation
きずつく kizutsukuto be wounded; to get injured

See also: Chinese symbol for “scratch”.

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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