Japanese symbol for “wounded”

手負い

ておい

Romaji: teoi

wounded; injured

In Japanese, wounded is 手負い, read ておい (teoi).

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-no, n wounded; injured

Kanji and stroke order

手

hand

on: シュ、ズ
kun: て、て-、-て、た-

4 strokes · JLPT 4

負

defeat, negative, -

on: フ
kun: ま.ける、ま.かす、お.う

9 strokes · JLPT 2

Related words

Words that share a kanji.

Word	Reading	Meaning
相手	あいて aite	companion; partner; company
選手	せんしゅ senshu	player (of a sport); athlete; team member
手段	しゅだん shudan	means; way; method
手術	しゅじゅつ shujutsu	surgery; operation; procedure
大手	おおて oote	major company; big company
手紙	てがみ tegami	letter; note
負け	まけ make	defeat; loss; losing (a game)
負担	ふたん futan	burden; load; responsibility

See also: Chinese symbol for “wounded”.

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.