King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Japanese symbol for “swiftly”

Romaji: hayaku
early; soon

In Japanese, swiftly is , read (hayaku).

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. adv, n early; soon
  2. adv quickly; swiftly; rapidly; fast

Written forms: . Readings: .

Kanji and stroke order

early, fast
on: ソウ、サッ
kun: はや.い、はや、はや-、はや.まる
6 strokes · JLPT 3

Other Japanese words for “swiftly”

WordReadingMeaning
するする surusurusmoothly; swiftly
きゅうに kyuuniswiftly; rapidly; quickly
スイスイ suisuilightly and smoothly (of movements); swiftly; glidingly
とく tokuquickly; swiftly; expeditiously
ちゃっと chattoswiftly; rapidly; promptly

Related words

Words that share a kanji.

WordReadingMeaning
はやい hayaifast; quick; rapid
そうき soukiearly stage
そうちょう souchouearly morning
さっそく sassokuat once; immediately; without delay
すばやい subayaiquick; swift; nimble
そうそう sousouas soon as ...; just after ...; immediately after ...

See also: Chinese symbol for “swiftly”.

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.