Meanings
alternative kyujitai
- uncountableThe traditional form of Japanese kanji used before 1947.
Although the kyūjitai kanji were not banned, the obsolete kyūjitai kanji have become unreadable to more and more readers over time, thus making texts including them difficult for modern readers, but at least there is a recognized mapping from new form to old form.
2020, Stewart Arneil, “Encoding Disappearing Characters: The Case of Twentieth-Century Japanese-Canadian Names”, in Journal of the Text Encoding Initiative, number 12, Text Encoding Initiative Consortium, →DOI, →ISSN
Origin
Transliteration from Japanese 旧(きゅう)字(じ)体(たい) (kyūjitai, literally “old character form”).
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Chinese Cantonese 舊字體 /旧字体
- 舊字體 /旧字体 (gau⁶ zi⁶ tai²)traditional form of Japanese kanji
Chinese Mandarin 舊字體 /旧字体, 日本舊字體 /日本旧字体
- 舊字體 /旧字体 (jiùzìtǐ)traditional form of Japanese kanji
- 日本舊字體 /日本旧字体 (Rìběn jiùzìtǐ)traditional form of Japanese kanji
Finnish kyūjitai
- kyūjitaitraditional form of Japanese kanji
French kyūjitai
- kyūjitaitraditional form of Japanese kanji
Hebrew קיוג׳יטאי
- קיוג׳יטאי (kyujitáy)traditional form of Japanese kanji
Hindi क्यूजिताई, पुराने कांजि
- क्यूजिताई (kyūjitāī)traditional form of Japanese kanji
- पुराने कांजि (purāne kāñji)traditional form of Japanese kanji
Japanese 旧字体
- 旧字体traditional form of Japanese kanji
Korean 구자체
- 구자체 (gujache)traditional form of Japanese kanji
Malay kanji lama
- kanji lamatraditional form of Japanese kanji
Polish kyūjitai
- kyūjitaitraditional form of Japanese kanji
Russian кюдзита́й
- кюдзита́й (kjudzitáj)traditional form of Japanese kanji
Spanish kyūjitai
- kyūjitaitraditional form of Japanese kanji
Vietnamese cựu tự thể
- cựu tự thểtraditional form of Japanese kanji
Cite this entry
kyūjitai. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ky%C5%ABjitai
“kyūjitai.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ky%C5%ABjitai. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “kyūjitai,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ky%C5%ABjitai.
Source: kyūjitai on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.