Japanese symbol for “swamped”

動きが取れない

うごきがとれない

Romaji: ugokigatorenai

unable to move; held up; swamped; stuck between a rock and a hard place

In Japanese, swamped is 動きが取れない, read うごきがとれない (ugokigatorenai).

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

adj-i, exp unable to move; held up; swamped; stuck between a rock and a hard place

Kanji and stroke order

動

move, motion, change

on: ドウ
kun: うご.く、うご.かす

11 strokes · JLPT 3

取

take, fetch, take up

on: シュ
kun: と.る、と.り、と.り-、とり

8 strokes · JLPT 2

Related words

Words that share a kanji.

Word	Reading	Meaning
活動	かつどう katsudou	activity (of a person, organization, animal, volcano, etc.); action; operation
行動	こうどう koudou	action; conduct; behaviour
運動	うんどう undou	exercise; physical training; workout
動物	どうぶつ doubutsu	animal
移動	いどう idou	movement; transfer; migration
自動	じどう jidou	automatic
取引	とりひき torihiki	transactions; dealings; business
買取	かいとり kaitori	purchase; buying; buying out

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.