King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Chinese symbol for “abrupt”

突然
tū rán
sudden; abrupt; unexpected

The closest CC-CEDICT match for abrupt is 突然 (tū rán), defined as: sudden; abrupt; unexpected.

Before using these characters for a tattoo, check them with a native speaker. Dictionary words often have several meanings, and the right choice depends on context.

Characters and stroke order

突 tū
sudden, abrupt, unexpected
radical 116 ⽳ · 9 strokes
然 rán
certainly; naturally; suddenly
radical 86 ⽕ · 12 strokes

Other Chinese words for “abrupt”

WordPinyinMeaning
猛měngferocious; fierce
骤 (驟)zhòusudden; unexpected
陡dǒusteep; precipitous; (of a change) abrupt; sudden
突兀tū wùlofty; towering; sudden; abrupt
倏shūsudden; abrupt

Related words

Other words that share a character with 突然.

WordPinyinMeaning
冲突 (衝突)chōng tūconflict; to conflict
突破tū pòto break through; to make a breakthrough
突出tū chūprominent; outstanding
突击 (突擊)tū jīsudden and violent attack; assault
突发 (突發)tū fāto occur suddenly
虽然 (雖然)suī ránalthough; even though (often used correlatively with 可是 (kě shì) or 但是 (dàn shì) etc)
然后 (然後)rán hòuthen; after that; afterwards
当然 (當然)dāng ránonly natural; as it should be

See also: Japanese symbol for “abrupt”.

Data: CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0); Unihan Database (Unicode License v3); Make Me a Hanzi (Arphic Public License (graphics.txt); LGPL-3.0-or-later (dictionary.txt)); wordfreq (CC BY-SA 4.0 (data)). Retrieved 2026-10-22.