King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Japanese symbol for “sow”

Romaji: maku
to sow; to plant; to seed

In Japanese, sow is , read (maku).

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. v5k, vt to sow; to plant; to seed
  2. v5k, vt to sow (the seeds of; e.g. conflict)
  3. v5k, vt to sprinkle (gold or silver powder on lacquerware)

Written forms: . Readings: .

Kanji and stroke order

sow (seeds)
on: シ、ジ
kun: う.える、ま.く
13 strokes · JLPT 1

Other Japanese words for “sow”

WordReadingMeaning
ほどこす hodokosuto sow; to seed; to scatter (e.g. fertilizer)
まきつける makitsukeruto sow (seeds)
めぶた mebutafemale pig; sow
めすぶた mesubutafemale pig; sow

Related words

Words that share a kanji.

WordReadingMeaning
まきえ makiegold or silver lacquer; lacquer decoration sprinkled with metal powder
たかまきえ takamakietakamaki-e; embossed gilt lacquerwork
むぎまき mugimakiwheat planting
まきつけ makitsukesowing (seeds)
むぎまき mugimakisowing wheat or barley

See also: Chinese symbol for “sow”.

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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