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Kanji for Medicine
The kanji most commonly used for "Medicine" are 薬、医.
薬
Kanji that mean Medicine
薬 (kusuri / yaku) is medicine you take. Read its parts: the grass radical 艹 over 楽, “ease/pleasure” — the herb that brings relief. 薬局 is a pharmacy, 薬草 a medicinal herb, and the humble drugstore chains of Japan all carry the character. In the other direction, 火薬 is gunpowder — “fire medicine” — a reminder the character means potent substance, not only cure.
医 (i) is medicine as the art and the profession: 医者 (doctor), 医学 (medical science), 歯医者 (dentist). The old form 醫 showed arrows, a hand and wine — surgery and anaesthetic, three thousand years early; the modern form keeps just the arrow in its box.
治 (chi / ji) is to heal or govern — 治療 is treatment — and 癒 (yu) is to heal in the soothing sense: 癒し, “healing”, is modern Japan’s word for everything comforting.
Words using Medicine kanji
Everyday Japanese vocabulary built from the characters above.
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農薬
のうやく
agricultural chemical; agrochemical; agrichemical
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医療
いりょう
medical treatment; medical care
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医薬品
いやくひん
medical and pharmaceutical products; medicinal supplies; drugs
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医学
いがく
medicine; medical science
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薬物
やくぶつ
drug; medicine
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医師
いし
doctor; physician
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薬品
やくひん
medicine; drug; chemical (agent)
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製薬
せいやく
medicine manufacture; drug manufacture
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医者
いしゃ
doctor; physician
Before you use Medicine kanji
薬 alone reads as "drug/medicine" — on skin, a Japanese reader may reasonably wonder about the pharmacy connection, or less charitably about substances. If your meaning is healing, 癒 (comfort, healing) or 治 (to heal) carry it warmly; for the healer's calling, 医 is dignified and unambiguous.