King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Japanese symbol for “scrawny”

Romaji: hinsou
poor-looking; impoverished-looking

In Japanese, scrawny is , read (hinsou).

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-na, n poor-looking; impoverished-looking
  2. adj-na, n scrawny (e.g. figure); thin-looking; sparse (e.g. meal); meagre; meager; insubstantial

Written forms: . Readings: .

Kanji and stroke order

poverty, poor
on: ヒン、ビン
kun: まず.しい
11 strokes · JLPT 2
inter-, mutual, together
on: ソウ、ショウ
kun: あい-
9 strokes · JLPT 2

Other Japanese words for “scrawny”

WordReadingMeaning
かせ kaselow; poor; scrawny
ギスギス gisugisuthin and bony; scrawny

Related words

Words that share a kanji.

WordReadingMeaning
ひんこん hinkonpoverty; penury; need
まずしい mazushiipoor; needy
びんぼう binboupoverty-stricken; destitute; poor
ひんけつ hinketsuanemia; anaemia
ひんじゃく hinjakupoor; meagre; meager
ひんぷ hinpuwealth and poverty; rich and poor
あいて aitecompanion; partner; company
そうだん soudanconsultation; discussion; discussing

See also: Chinese symbol for “scrawny”.

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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