King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Japanese symbol for “trite”

Romaji: furukusai
stale; old fashioned; hackneyed; trite

In Japanese, trite is , read (furukusai).

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. adj-i stale; old fashioned; hackneyed; trite; antiquated; obsolete

Written forms: . Readings: .

Kanji and stroke order

old
on: コ
kun: ふる.い、ふる-、-ふる.す
5 strokes · JLPT 4
stinking, ill-smelling, suspicious looking
on: シュウ
kun: くさ.い、-くさ.い、にお.う、にお.い
9 strokes · JLPT 1

Other Japanese words for “trite”

WordReadingMeaning
つきなみ tsukinamitrite; commonplace; conventional
じょうとう joutouconventional; commonplace; trite
ききふるした kikifurushitatrite; hackneyed
ありふれた arifuretacommon; commonplace; ordinary
へいぞく heizokucommonplace; ordinary; trite

Related words

Words that share a kanji.

WordReadingMeaning
ふるい furuiold; aged; ancient
こだい kodaiancient times; distant past; antiquity
ちゅうこ chuukoused; second-hand; old
こてん kotenclassic (work, esp. book); the classics
けいこ keikopractice; practising; training
ふるほん furuhonsecondhand book
くさい kusaistinking; smelly
あくしゅう akushuubad smell; foul smell; offensive odor

See also: Chinese symbol for “trite”.

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.