Chinese symbol for “adaptable”
机动
jī dòng
Traditional: 機動
locomotive; motorized; power-driven; adaptable
The closest CC-CEDICT match for adaptable is 机动 (jī dòng), defined as: locomotive; motorized; power-driven; adaptable; flexible (use, treatment, timing etc).
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
Traditional forms
Other Chinese words for “adaptable”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 机变 (機變) | jī biàn | improvisation; flexible |
| 见人说人话，见鬼说鬼话 (見人說人話，見鬼說鬼話) | jiàn rén shuō rén huà , jiàn guǐ shuō guǐ huà | (fig.) adaptable; able to deal with various kinds of people and situations; (derog.) insincere; two-faced |
| 活泛 | huó fan | flexible; adaptable |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 机动.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 机构 (機構) | jī gòu | mechanism; structure |
| 机会 (機會) | jī huì | opportunity; chance |
| 手机 (手機) | shǒu jī | cell phone; mobile phone; measure word: 部 (bù), 台 (tái) |
| 机关 (機關) | jī guān | mechanism; gear; machine-operated |
| 飞机 (飛機) | fēi jī | airplane; measure word: 架 (jià) |
| 机场 (機場) | jī chǎng | airport; airfield; (slang) service provider for Shadowsocks or similar software for circumventing Internet censorship |
| 活动 (活動) | huó dòng | to exercise; to move about; to work out; shaky; unsteady; loose (tooth etc) |
| 运动 (運動) | yùn dòng | to move; to exercise |
See also: Japanese symbol for “adaptable”.
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.