King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Japanese symbol for “shrinkage”

Romaji: shukushou
reduction; curtailment; cut; cutback

In Japanese, shrinkage is , read (shukushou).

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, vi, vs reduction; curtailment; cut; cutback; scaling down; contraction

Written forms: . Readings: .

Kanji and stroke order

shrink, contract, shrivel
on: シュク
kun: ちぢ.む、ちぢ.まる、ちぢ.める、ちぢ.れる
17 strokes · JLPT 1
little, small
on: ショウ
kun: ちい.さい、こ-、お-、さ-
3 strokes · JLPT 4

Other Japanese words for “shrinkage”

WordReadingMeaning
ちぢみ chijimishrinkage
しゅうしゅく shuushukucontraction; shrinking; shrinkage
きんしゅく kinshukutightening; shrinkage; contraction
つまり tsumarishrinkage

Related words

Words that share a kanji.

WordReadingMeaning
たんしゅく tanshukushortening; contraction; reduction
あっしゅく asshukucompression
のうしゅく noushukuconcentration (e.g. of a solution); enrichment; condensation
いしゅく ishukuwithering; shrivelling; shrinking
きょうしゅく kyoushukufeeling (much) obliged; being (very) grateful; being thankful
しょうせつ shousetsunovel; story; (work of) fiction
しょうがっこう shougakkouprimary school; elementary school; grade school
しょうがくせい shougakuseielementary school student; primary school student; grade school student

See also: Chinese symbol for “shrinkage”.

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.