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Kanji for Beautiful
The kanji most commonly used for "Beautiful" are 美、麗、佳.
美
Kanji that mean Beautiful
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美
beautiful, beauty
Onyomi: bi, mi Kunyomi: utsuku.shii 9 strokes Jōyō
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麗
beautiful, fair
Also associated with to line up.
Onyomi: rei Kunyomi: ura.raka, uruwa.shii 19 strokes Jōyō
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佳
good, beautiful, excellent
Onyomi: ka 8 strokes Jōyō
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綺
beautiful, figured silk
Also associated with splendid.
Onyomi: ki Kunyomi: aya 14 strokes Jinmeiyō
美 (bi / utsukushii) is beauty — and the character is a large 大 sheep 羊: a fine, plump offering, beauty as what is good enough for the gods. It anchors the whole aesthetic vocabulary: 美しい (beautiful), 美人 (a beauty), 美学 (aesthetics), 美術 (fine art). In names it is everywhere — Mi in Emi, Yumi, Miyuki — the single most-used “beautiful” element in Japanese naming.
麗 (rei / uruwashii) is beauty at a higher polish: lovely, resplendent — a deer with ornamented antlers. 華麗 is gorgeous; 綺麗 (kirei) — the everyday word for pretty/clean — pairs it with 綺, the figured-silk character. 佳 (ka) is the connoisseur’s “fine, excellent”: 佳作 an honourable-mention work, 佳人 a graceful beauty; a modest, elegant name kanji (Kei, Yoshika).
綺 (ki) is beauty as woven brilliance — figured silk — now living mostly inside 綺麗 and girls’ names (Aki, Kiho). The family album: 美 the ideal, 麗 the splendour, 佳 the excellence, 綺 the shimmer.
Words using Beautiful kanji
Everyday Japanese vocabulary built from the characters above.
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美術
びじゅつ
art; fine arts
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華麗
かれい
splendid; magnificent; gorgeous
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佳作
かさく
fine (piece of) work; excellent work; work that receives an honourable mention
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綺麗
きれい
pretty; lovely; beautiful
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美術館
びじゅつかん
art museum; art gallery
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高麗
こうらい
Goryeo (dynasty of Korea; 918-1392 CE); Koryŏ
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美人
びじん
beautiful woman; (a) beauty; belle
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美容
びよう
beauty; good figure; (beautiful) appearance
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美女
びじょ
beautiful woman
Before you use Beautiful kanji
美 is the definitive choice — beauty itself, legible to every reader, warm from a million names. 麗 reads as ornate splendour; 佳 as understated excellence. 綺麗 in full says "beautiful/clean" the way Japanese actually says it daily. No traps anywhere in this family — beauty is one concept Japanese only flatters.