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Kanji Detail for 霊 - "spirit, soul, supernatural"

霊

  • Meaning

    霊 means "spirit, soul, supernatural."

    1. Spirit - The soul; the essence of a person.

    2. Soul - The spiritual part of a being.

    3. Supernatural - Having mysterious powers.

    4. Sacred - Holy; divine.

  • Words using 霊

    • 慰霊 いれい Listen consoling the spirits of the dead
    • 幽霊 ゆうれい Listen ghost; specter; spectre
    • 慰霊祭 いれいさい Listen memorial service

  • Four-character idioms with 霊

    • 全身全霊 ぜんしんぜんれい Listen complete devotion; body and soul; one's best
    • 心霊現象 しんれいげんしょう Listen psychic phenomenon
    • 霊肉一致 れいにくいっち Listen unity of body and spirit
    • 霊魂不滅 れいこんふめつ Listen immortality of the soul
    • 頑冥不霊 がんめいふれい Listen stubborn and ignorant

  • Origin of 霊

    The old form 靈 sets 雨, rain, over rows of praying mouths and 巫, the shaman: the one who calls rain down. The numinous is what answers — spirit as the unseen that responds.

    How to remember it: Rain 雨 answering the shaman's call — the spirit world responding: the numinous.

    Sources: en.wiktionary.org · mojinavi.com

  • Tattoo check: 霊

    • Verified meaning: spirit, soul, supernatural
    • Official Jōyō kanji — a standard character every Japanese reader recognises
    • Used in real Japanese given names (read たま, たまざき, みたま, れい)

    A single kanji rarely maps one-to-one onto an English word. Read the meanings and associations above as a set — a character that fits the dictionary definition can still carry a connotation you did not intend.

  • Name readings of 霊

    Given names 霊(たま)Listen 霊(れい)Listen

    Surnames 霊(たまざき)Listen 霊(みたま)Listen

  • Compare with other kanji that mean the same thing:

  • Dictionary Citations

    The meaning above is based on the following sources:

    KANJIDIC2 A comprehensive Japanese-English kanji dictionary

    spirits; soul

    Unihan Unicode Han Database for CJK characters

    spirit, soul; spiritual world

    CC-CEDICT A Chinese-English dictionary

    Japanese variant of 靈|灵

  • Onyomi

    tip

    rei(レイ) レイ

    ryoh(リョウ) リョウ

  • Kunyomi

    tip

    tama(たま) たま

  • Strokes

    tip

    15 strokes

  • Radical

    tip

    雨 (ame・amekammuri・amakammuri)

  • Related Keywords

    spirit soul supernatural mysterious mystical power priestess shaman sacred wise excellent ghost divine ethereal holy phantom

Sentences including 霊

  • Do you really believe in ghosts?

  • Do you believe in ghosts?

  • The house is haunted.

  • Do you believe in ghosts?

  • The house is said to be haunted.

  • What would you do if you saw a ghost?

  • Do you believe in ghosts?

  • They say that old house is haunted.

Sentences from Japanese classical masterpieces

More kanji with the radical 雨 (ame・amekammuri・amakammuri)

See all kanji with this radical →

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