ateji

Ateji, written as 当て字 in Japanese, is a practice in which kanji are chosen primarily for their phonetic value to represent a word, rather than for their literal meaning. In ateji, the characters may have little or no semantic relation to the word they convey, and the emphasis is on producing the correct reading within the language. The phenomenon has historical roots in the early adoption of Chinese characters and continues in modern writing for stylistic effect, for loanwords, and for names.

Ateji is often used to render foreign words in a way that fits Japanese orthography or to evoke particular associations. Classic examples include 寿司, read as sushi, where the characters carry auspicious meanings but are used to convey the sound. Another historical example is 亞細亞, an old rendering of Asia used in early texts. In some contexts, kanji such as 珈琲 have been used to represent foreign words like “coffee,” chosen for phonetic approximation rather than semantic content. Ateji also appears in brand names, poetry, and signage to create distinctive visuals or puns.

The concept is distinct from gikun (義訓), where kanji are given nonstandard readings to reflect meaning, and from jukujikun (熟字訓), where a word’s reading cannot be inferred from its individual kanji. Together, these ideas illustrate the varied ways kanji interact with Japanese pronunciation and meaning.

See also: Japanese writing, kanji, gikun, jukujikun.