King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Japanese symbol for “trying”

Romaji: shishoku
sampling food; tasting; trying

In Japanese, trying is , read (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

  1. n, vs, vt sampling food; tasting; trying

Kanji and stroke order

test, try, attempt
on: シ
kun: こころ.みる、ため.す
13 strokes · JLPT 3
eat, food
on: ショク、ジキ
kun: く.う、く.らう、た.べる、は.む
9 strokes · JLPT 4

Other Japanese words for “trying”

WordReadingMeaning
せつない setsunaipainful; heartrending; trying
にがい nigaibitter (e.g. experience); painful; distressing
しまつがわるい shimatsugawaruihard to deal with; hard to handle; difficult
ほねのおれる honenoorerulaborious; arduous; strenuous

Related words

Words that share a kanji.

WordReadingMeaning
しあい shiaimatch; game; bout
しけん shikenexamination; exam; test
ためし tameshitrial; test; try
こころみ kokoromiattempt; trial; experiment
にゅうし nyuushientrance examination
ためす tamesuto try (out); to have a try (at); to test
しょくじ shokujimeal (e.g. lunch, dinner)
しょくひん shokuhinfood; 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.

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