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Kanji for Lapis Lazuli
The kanji most commonly used for "Lapis Lazuli" are 瑠、璃、琉.
瑠
Kanji that mean Lapis Lazuli
The stone is 瑠璃, ruri, and it takes both characters. Neither works alone: 瑠 appears essentially only in 瑠璃 and in 浄瑠璃, the chanted narration of puppet theater, while 璃 carries the glassy sense and also turns up in 玻璃, an old word for crystal or glass.
Because the compound names a deep blue, ruri serves as a color word as well as a mineral, and 瑠璃 is used as a girl’s given name.
琉 is a different character with a similar sound and a related sense of precious stone, but in practice a Japanese reader will see it as the 琉 of 琉球, the Ryūkyū Islands. Both 瑠 and 琉 are popular building blocks in modern given names, chosen largely for their sound rather than for what they mean.
Words using Lapis Lazuli kanji
Everyday Japanese vocabulary built from the characters above.
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琉球
りゅうきゅう
Ryukyu; chain of southwestern Japanese islands comprising Okinawa Prefecture
Before you use Lapis Lazuli kanji
Write both characters: 瑠璃 is the word, and either one alone reads as a name fragment rather than as the stone. 琉 is not a substitute — despite the similar sound it will be read as the 琉 of Ryūkyū, that is, Okinawa.