Japanese symbol for “trying”
試食
ししょく
Romaji: shishoku
sampling food; tasting; trying
In Japanese, trying is 試食, read ししょく (shishoku).
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 sampling food; tasting; trying
Kanji and stroke order
Other Japanese words for “trying”
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 切ない | せつない setsunai | painful; heartrending; trying |
| 苦い | にがい nigai | bitter (e.g. experience); painful; distressing |
| 始末が悪い | しまつがわるい shimatsugawarui | hard to deal with; hard to handle; difficult |
| 骨の折れる | ほねのおれる honenooreru | laborious; arduous; strenuous |
Related words
Words that share a kanji.
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 試合 | しあい shiai | match; game; bout |
| 試験 | しけん shiken | examination; exam; test |
| 試し | ためし tameshi | trial; test; try |
| 試み | こころみ kokoromi | attempt; trial; experiment |
| 入試 | にゅうし nyuushi | entrance examination |
| 試す | ためす tamesu | to try (out); to have a try (at); to test |
| 食事 | しょくじ shokuji | meal (e.g. lunch, dinner) |
| 食品 | しょくひん shokuhin | food; food products; foodstuffs |
See also: Chinese symbol for “trying”.
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.