刺し客かく

Written forms

• 刺客Usage98%iUsage for this spelling across all readings, not one reading alone.
  • しかく

    Standard kanji spelling. The reading しかく is the most common.

  • しきゃく

    rarely-used kana form
  • せきかく

    rarely-used kana form
  • せっかく

    rarely-used kana form
• しかくUsage2%

  Kana spelling is acceptable, especially when the political abbreviation sense is intended or to avoid misreading.

• しきゃくUsage1%
  rarely-used kana form
• せきかく
  rarely-used kana form
• せっかく
  rarely-used kana form

Etymology

From Chinese 刺客 (cìkè). The political sense is a modern Japanese abbreviation of 刺客候補.