Copyright © 2026 Kotomora. All Rights Reserved.
優勝劣敗 (yuushoureppai) Japanese meaning | Kotomora
Report an issue with this page
げん
然ぜん
と
存そん
在ざい
する
。
In nature, survival of the fittest exists undeniably.
The business world is a harsh competition of survival of the fittest.
Kanji 優 tenderness, excel, surpass 劣 inferiority, be inferior to, be worse 敗 failure, defeat, reversal Related words 弱じゃく 肉にく 強きょう 食しょく 弱肉強食 (the weak are meat; the strong eat) is a more vivid, concrete metaphor for the law of the jungle, while 優勝劣敗 is a more abstract, analytical term for the principle of the strong winning and the weak losing.
Etymology A yojijukugo composed of 優 (superior), 勝 (win), 劣 (inferior), and 敗 (lose), literally 'the superior win, the inferior lose'. It is a direct translation of the Western concept 'survival of the fittest', coined in the Meiji period.
