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Kanji for Balance

The kanji most commonly used for "Balance" are 均、衡、秤.

Kanji that mean Balance

  • equal, level

    Also associated with harmonious.

    Onyomi: kin Kunyomi: na.rasu 7 strokes Jōyō

  • balance, scale

    Also associated with to weigh.

    Onyomi: koh 16 strokes Jōyō

  • scale, balance

    Also associated with measure.

    Onyomi: bin, hin, shoh Kunyomi: hakari 10 strokes Jinmeiyō

均衡 (kinkō) — equilibrium — supplies both core characters for balance. 均 (kin) is evenness: earth 土 made level. 平均 is the average — the great leveller of school scores — and 均等 is equal distribution. 衡 (kō) is the beam of a balance-scale: 平衡 is physical equilibrium, and 度量衡 — lengths, volumes, weights — is the old word for the system of measures itself.

秤 (hakari) is the scale you weigh with, the instrument: 天秤 (tenbin) is the beam balance — and 天秤座 is Libra, the zodiac’s own tribute to the concept. To 天秤にかける is to weigh two options against each other, exactly as English “weigh up”.

Japanese aesthetics adds its own note: perfect symmetry is distrusted; the balance prized in gardens and ikebana is 不均衡の美 — asymmetric balance, weight answered by space. And the balance of body and mind in budō is 心身のバランス — a loanword, because some equilibria arrived from outside.

Words using Balance kanji

Everyday Japanese vocabulary built from the characters above.

  • 平均 へいきん Listen average; mean; balance
  • 不均衡 ふきんこう Listen imbalance; lack of balance; lopsidedness
  • 均衡 きんこう Listen balance; equilibrium
  • 拡大均衡 かくだいきんこう Listen an expanded or expanding equilibrium
  • 均等 きんとう Listen equal (distribution, treatment, level, etc.); even; uniform
  • 均一 きんいつ Listen uniformity; equality

Before you use Balance kanji

There is no single beloved kanji for "balance" — 均 alone reads as "even/average" and 衡 as a technical "beam". The word 均衡 (equilibrium) reads cleanly if formal. For balance as a life philosophy, Japanese would sooner write 中庸 (the golden mean, Confucius' term) or 調和 (harmony) — both truer to what most people mean.

Other meanings to explore

See all kanji by meaning →

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