Japanese symbol for “wily”
陰険
いんけん
Romaji: inken
crafty; tricky; sly; wily
In Japanese, wily is 陰険, read いんけん (inken).
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-na crafty; tricky; sly; wily; treacherous; underhand
- adj-na sinister (look)
Kanji and stroke order
Other Japanese words for “wily”
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 悪賢い | わるがしこい warugashikoi | cunning; crafty; wily |
| 老獪 | ろうかい roukai | cunning (acquired with age); astute; crafty |
Related words
Words that share a kanji.
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 陰謀 | いんぼう inbou | plot; intrigue; scheme |
| 日陰 | ひかげ hikage | shade; shadow |
| 陰陽 | いんよう in'you | cosmic dual forces; yin and yang; sun and moon |
| 陰性 | いんせい insei | negative (result) |
| 木陰 | こかげ kokage | shade of a tree; bower |
| 山陰 | やまかげ yamakage | place in the shade of a mountain; shelter of the mountains |
| 危険 | きけん kiken | danger; peril; hazard |
| 保険 | ほけん hoken | insurance |
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.