Japanese symbol for “suburb”

郊外

こうがい

Romaji: kougai

suburb; residential area on the outskirt of a city; commuter belt

In Japanese, suburb is 郊外, read こうがい (kougai).

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 suburb; residential area on the outskirt of a city; commuter belt

Kanji and stroke order

郊

outskirts, suburbs, rural area

on: コウ

9 strokes · JLPT 2

外

outside

on: ガイ、ゲ
kun: そと、ほか、はず.す、はず.れる

5 strokes · JLPT 4

Related words

Words that share a kanji.

Word	Reading	Meaning
近郊	きんこう kinkou	outskirts; environs (of a city); surrounding area
北郊	ほっこう hokkou	northern suburbs
南郊	なんこう nankou	southern suburbs
東郊	とうこう toukou	eastern suburbs
郊野	こうの kouno	suburban fields
海外	かいがい kaigai	foreign; abroad; overseas
外国	がいこく gaikoku	foreign country
以外	いがい igai	excluding; except (for); apart from

See also: Chinese symbol for “suburb”.

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.