Japanese symbol for “sweeping”
掃除
そうじ
Romaji: souji
cleaning; sweeping; dusting; scrubbing
In Japanese, sweeping is 掃除, read そうじ (souji).
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, vs, vt cleaning; sweeping; dusting; scrubbing
Kanji and stroke order
Other Japanese words for “sweeping”
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 大雑把 | おおざっぱ oozappa | rough (estimate, summary, etc.); broad; general |
| 席巻 | せっけん sekken | sweeping (over, across); conquering; overwhelming |
| 払い | はらい harai | sweeping; clearing away |
| 風靡 | ふうび fuubi | overwhelming; conquering; dominating |
| 掃引 | そういん souin | sweeping; scanning |
Related words
Words that share a kanji.
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 清掃 | せいそう seisou | cleaning; clean-up; garbage collection |
| 一掃 | いっそう issou | clean sweep; purging; doing away with |
| 掃海 | そうかい soukai | sweeping the sea for mines; dragging for mines |
| 掃討 | そうとう soutou | cleaning up (enemy remnants); sweeping clean (of opponents); mopping up |
| 掃射 | そうしゃ sousha | sweeping with fire; mowing down; strafing |
| 解除 | かいじょ kaijo | termination (of a contract); cancellation; rescinding |
| 排除 | はいじょ haijo | exclusion; removal; elimination |
| 削除 | さくじょ sakujo | deletion; elimination; erasure |
See also: Chinese symbol for “sweeping”.
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.