Japanese symbol for “shun”
厭う
いとう
Romaji: itou
to shun; to balk at (doing); to grudge (doing); to dislike (an activity, environment, etc.)
In Japanese, shun is 厭う, read いとう (itou).
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
- v5u, v5u-s, vt to shun; to balk at (doing); to grudge (doing); to dislike (an activity, environment, etc.); to be weary of
- v5u, v5u-s, vt to take (good) care of (esp. one's health)
Kanji and stroke order
Other Japanese words for “shun”
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 疎む | うとむ utomu | to shun; to avoid; to ostracize |
| 忌む | いむ imu | to avoid; to refrain from; to shun |
| 疎んじる | うとんじる utonjiru | to shun; to avoid; to ostracize |
| 疎んずる | うとんずる utonzuru | to shun; to avoid; to ostracize |
| 退ける | のける nokeru | to remove (someone) from the group; to shun |
Related words
Words that share a kanji.
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 厭世 | えんせい ensei | weariness with life; world-weariness; pessimism |
| 厭戦 | えんせん ensen | war weariness |
| 厭離 | おんり onri | departing from this world in disdain |
| 倦厭 | けんえん ken'en | weariness |
| 厭わしい | いとわしい itowashii | detestable; disagreeable; disgusting |
See also: Chinese symbol for “shun”.
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.