King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Japanese symbol for “yellowing”

Romaji: hiyake
sunburn; suntan; tan

In Japanese, yellowing is , read (hiyake).

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, vi, vs sunburn; suntan; tan
  2. n, vi, vs becoming discolored from the sun (e.g. of paper); yellowing
  3. n, vi, vs drying up (of a river, field, etc.)

Written forms: . Readings: .

Kanji and stroke order

day, sun, Japan
on: ニチ、ジツ
kun: ひ、-び、-か
4 strokes · JLPT 4
bake, burning
on: ショウ
kun: や.く、や.き、や.き-、-や.き
12 strokes · JLPT 2

Other Japanese words for “yellowing”

WordReadingMeaning
おうへん ouhenturning yellow; yellowing

Related words

Words that share a kanji.

WordReadingMeaning
きょう kyoutoday; this day
にほん nihonJapan
まいにち mainichievery day; daily
あした ashitatomorrow
きのう kinouyesterday
にちじょう nichijoueveryday; daily; ordinary
ねんしょう nenshouburning; combustion
やきにく yakinikuyakiniku; Japanese dish of grilled meat similar to Korean barbecue

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.