King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Japanese symbol for “trouble”

Romaji: meiwaku
trouble; bother; annoyance; nuisance

In Japanese, trouble is , read (meiwaku).

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-na, n trouble; bother; annoyance; nuisance; inconvenience
  2. vi, vs to be troubled (by); to be bothered (by); to be inconvenienced (by)

Kanji and stroke order

astray, be perplexed, in doubt
on: メイ
kun: まよ.う
9 strokes · JLPT 2
beguile, delusion, perplexity
on: ワク
kun: まど.う
12 strokes · JLPT 1

Other Japanese words for “trouble”

WordReadingMeaning
めんどう mendoutrouble; bother
なやみ nayamitrouble; troubles; worry
くろう kuroutrouble; hardship; difficulty
じけん jikenevent; affair; incident
じこ jikoaccident; incident; trouble

Related words

Words that share a kanji.

WordReadingMeaning
まよう mayouto lose one's way; to get lost; to go astray
まいご maigolost child; lost person; stray child
ていめい teimeihanging low (of clouds)
まよい mayoihesitation; bewilderment; perplexity
めいろ meiromaze; labyrinth
おもわく omowakuexpectation; anticipation; prediction
ゆうわく yuuwakutemptation; allurement; lure
ぎわく giwakudoubt; misgivings; distrust

See also: Chinese symbol for “trouble”.

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.

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