Japanese symbol for “stairs”
階段
かいだん
Romaji: kaidan
stairs; stairway; staircase
In Japanese, stairs is 階段, read かいだん (kaidan).
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 stairs; stairway; staircase
Kanji and stroke order
Other Japanese words for “stairs”
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 段階 | だんかい dankai | stairs |
| 階 | かい kai | stairs |
| 階 | きざはし kizahashi | stairs |
| 階梯 | かいてい kaitei | stairs |
| 段々 | だんだん dandan | steps; stairs; staircase |
Related words
Words that share a kanji.
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 段階 | だんかい dankai | stage; step; phase |
| 階級 | かいきゅう kaikyuu | (social) class |
| 階層 | かいそう kaisou | class; level; stratum |
| 音階 | おんかい onkai | scale |
| 階下 | かいか kaika | lower floor; downstairs |
| 手段 | しゅだん shudan | means; way; method |
| 値段 | ねだん nedan | price; cost |
| 普段 | ふだん fudan | usual; normal; everyday |
See also: Chinese symbol for “stairs”.
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.