Japanese symbol for “spinach”

ほうれん草

ほうれんそう

Romaji: hourensou

spinach (Spinacia oleracea)

In Japanese, spinach is ほうれん草, read ほうれんそう (hourensou).

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

n spinach (Spinacia oleracea)

Written forms: ほうれん草、ホウレン草、菠薐草、法蓮草. Readings: ほうれんそう、ホウレンソウ.

Kanji and stroke order

草

grass, weeds, herbs

on: ソウ
kun: くさ、くさ-、-ぐさ

9 strokes · JLPT 2

Related words

Words that share a kanji.

Word	Reading	Meaning
煙草	タバコ tabako	tobacco; cigarette; cigar
草原	そうげん sougen	grassy field; grassland; meadow
雑草	ざっそう zassou	weed
草食	そうしょく soushoku	herbivorous; plant-eating; graminivorous
草木	くさき kusaki	plants; vegetation
草案	そうあん souan	draft (for a speech, bill, etc.)

See also: Chinese symbol for “spinach”.

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.