King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Japanese symbol for “stripe”

Romaji: sen
line; stripe; stria

In Japanese, stripe is , read (sen).

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, n-suf line; stripe; stria
  2. n, n-suf line (e.g. telephone line); wire
  3. n, n-suf ray (e.g. X-ray); beam
  4. n, n-suf line (e.g. of a railroad); track; route; lane
  5. n, n-suf outline; contours; form
  6. n, n-suf level

Kanji and stroke order

line, track
on: セン
kun: すじ
15 strokes · JLPT 2

Other Japanese words for “stripe”

WordReadingMeaning
しま shimastripe; bar; streak
すじ sujiline; stripe; streak
ストライプ sutoraipustripe
すじじょう sujijoustripe; streak; striation

Related words

Words that share a kanji.

WordReadingMeaning
しんかんせん shinkansenShinkansen; bullet train
むせん musenradio (communication)
ろせん rosenroute (bus, train, air, etc.); line
せんろ senrorailway track; railway line; railroad
ちょくせん chokusenstraight line
ほんせん honsenmain line; trunk line

See also: Chinese symbol for “stripe”.

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.