The Meaning of kansei [完成] In Japanese

完成
かんせい
Romaji: kansei N3

What does 完成 mean?

Translation and Meaning

completion, finished state, finished product

Definition

完成 means the state of being complete or finished, the act of bringing something to its end, or the result that is fully made. It is used for projects, plans, products, and processes to indicate that they have reached their intended end point; it can function as a noun and, with する, to form a verb that expresses the action of completing something.

Type

Noun, suru-verb (名詞, する動詞)

Stroke Order

Meanings

  • The state of having reached the end or proper form of something; the finish line of a project, construction, or plan.
  • The finished product or output, not just the process, often used as 完成品 for clarity.
  • Degree or extent of completion, used in contexts like progress reporting or quality checks (完成度).

Composition

  • 完: complete, perfect; here it contributes the sense of reaching a final state
  • 成: become, achieve; here it adds the notion of resulting state or completion
  • When combined as 完成, the characters fuse to express the act or state of bringing something to its final, finished form

Usage

Used in formal, technical, and everyday contexts to denote completion. Commonly pairs with 完成する to describe the act of finishing a process, or with 完成品 and 未完成 in product and project language. In written Japanese, it appears in reports, plans, manuals, and manufacturing contexts.
💡 Tips
Mnemonic: imagine a roof (宀) sheltering the origin (元); when the origin sits under the roof, the work is complete.

Variations

  • 完了 — kanryou; more formal sense of completion or finalization
  • 未完成 — mikansei; incomplete
  • 完成品 — kanseihin; finished product

Example Phrases

  • ついにアプリの完成を皆で祝う。
    Tsui ni apuri no kansei o minna de iwau.
    We all celebrate the app’s completion at last.
    Lista:
    • ついに (tsui ni) – finally
    • アプリ (apuri) – app
    • の (no) – of
    • 完成を (kansei o) – completion (object)
    • 皆で (minna de) – everyone together
    • 祝う (iwau) – to celebrate
    Here, 「完成」 is used as a noun meaning ‘completion’ and is the object of 「祝う」; the phrase アプリの完成 means ‘the app’s completion’.
完成