Japanese symbol for “vile”

卑しい

いやしい

Romaji: iyashii

lowborn; humble; lowly

In Japanese, vile is 卑しい, read いやしい (iyashii).

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

adj-i lowborn; humble; lowly
adj-i vulgar; coarse; crude; mean; base; vile
adj-i shabby; poor-looking
adj-i greedy; gluttonous; avaricious

Written forms: 卑しい、賤しい、鄙しい. Readings: いやしい.

Kanji and stroke order

卑

lowly, base, vile

on: ヒ
kun: いや.しい、いや.しむ、いや.しめる

9 strokes · JLPT 1

Related words

Words that share a kanji.

Word	Reading	Meaning
卑劣	ひれつ hiretsu	mean; contemptible; despicable
卑怯	ひきょう hikyou	cowardly; craven
卑屈	ひくつ hikutsu	servile; subservient; obsequious
男尊女卑	だんそんじょひ dansonjohi	male domination of women; male chauvinism; subjection of women
卑下	ひげ hige	self-abasement; self-depreciation; humility

See also: Chinese symbol for “vile”.

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.