KanjiPadKanji for Dragon — 竜
What 竜 means
竜 is read ryū in compounds and tatsu on its own. It is the modern, simplified form of the dragon character; the older 龍, at sixteen strokes, is still used in names, shop signs, temple carvings and anywhere the extra weight of the shape is the point. Both are read the same way, and both mean dragon.
The East Asian dragon is not the European one. It is serpentine rather than winged, associated with rivers, rain and the sea rather than with hoarded gold, and it is a benevolent, imperial figure — 竜宮 (ryūgū) is the underwater palace of the Dragon King in Japanese folklore.
Tatsu is the fifth sign of the zodiac, the Year of the Dragon, and it survives in vocabulary well beyond myth: 恐竜 (kyōryū) is a dinosaur, 竜巻 (tatsumaki) a tornado — literally a dragon coiling up into the sky — and 登竜門 (tōryūmon) is the gateway you pass through on the way to success.
Readings
- Kun
- たつ、いせ
- On
- リュウ、リョウ、ロウ
Stroke order
Write 竜 in 10 strokes, following the tiles above in order — top to bottom, left to right.
竜 as a tattoo
If you want a dragon tattoo in characters, the choice between 竜 and 龍 is real: 竜 looks contemporary and clean, 龍 looks classical and dense, and tattooists often render 龍 badly because the interior strokes crowd together at small sizes. Pick your form first, then draw it on our board to check the balance at the size you actually want, and read the kanji tattoo guide before booking.
Words with 竜
- 竜dragon (esp. a Chinese dragon)
- 恐竜dinosaur
- 竜王Dragon King
- 登竜門gateway to success
- 竜巻tornado, whirlwind, waterspout
- 竜宮Palace of the Dragon King, palace from the story of Urashima Tarō (said to be located at the bottom of the sea)
Keep exploring
Practice writing 竜 stroke by stroke, with spaced repetition and quizzes, in the app.