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What does my tattoo mean?

AddisonM

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24 Feb 2016
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So, when I was 18, I got a kanji tattoo without being sure what it means LIKE AN IDIOT.

At any rate, I was hoping someone here could let me know the meaning of this thing on my arm I got almost 10 years ago now.

Thanks so much in advance!
20160223_103506.jpg
 
You couldn't have at least flipped the image you took in the mirror?

The first character is 賛, as in 賛成 (to agree) or 協賛 (to support). Oddly enough, it looks like a hiragana い snuck between that and the second character, which I do not recognize nor can i find in a dictionary through either attempts to handwrite it or look it up by radical. Since the tattoo is clearly not written by someone who knows the language, it's possible the character is miswritten, but I can't even guess what it is supposed to be, looking at this list of words that start with 賛... not to mention that the い in between means it's not a kanji compound, and although 賛い is not a word, my guess is someone tried to translate two separate words and took whatever the internet offered up.

So, although it seems to be Japanese, it has no meaning other than whatever you decide to assign to it. Maybe tell people it's meant to complement the other words tattooed on your arm, and quietly let it be a reminder for you to look before you leap?

You could also submit it to Tian at hanzismatter.blogspot.com and see what he comes up with. Just crop it to just your arm and send the image with a brief explanation to [email protected]
 
賛美

"Sanbi" means "praise" as in "praise the Lord". What looks like い is just an over-exaggerated top of 美.

The time to ask what a kanji tattoo means is before you get it....
 
賛美

"Sanbi" means "praise" as in "praise the Lord". What looks like い is just an over-exaggerated top of 美.

The time to ask what a kanji tattoo means is before you get it....

Mike's correct. It's 賛美. (I had to ask a native who recognized it right away since my kanji skills are not better than his.)

Does "Praise (God)" sound like something you remember? At least it's legible and not something totally lame.
 
Unfortunately, I was SO foolish as a teenager I'm sure I just chose the tattoo assuming I'd rarely if ever encounter someone able to read it. I'm sure I had no idea what it translated to, only that it "looked cool."

I'm not sure how excited I am to know that it means "praise god" considering I consider myself a secular buddhist.

Not that I'm against the loftier aspects of buddhism, but a deity figure isn't exactly central to Buddhism.

Is it specifically praise "god" or could it possibly also be applied to, say, the universe? Or just simply an undefined higher power? Because I'm all for the idea of marveling at the universe = )
 
Or can it mean simply "Praise" by itself? Because that might tie into the English words I have tattooed right nest to it "Knowledge - Power."
 
A quick google search also tells me that it can also mean "Glorification." If so, I'm fairly comfortable with that.
 
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