King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

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

机 jī
desk; machine; moment, opportunity
radical 75 ⽊ · 6 strokes
动 dòng
to move, to happen; movement, action
radical 19 ⼒ · 6 strokes

Traditional forms

Other Chinese words for “adaptable”

WordPinyinMeaning
机变 (機變)jī biànimprovisation; 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 fanflexible; adaptable

Related words

Other words that share a character with 机动.

WordPinyinMeaning
机构 (機構)jī gòumechanism; structure
机会 (機會)jī huìopportunity; chance
手机 (手機)shǒu jīcell phone; mobile phone; measure word: 部 (bù), 台 (tái)
机关 (機關)jī guānmechanism; gear; machine-operated
飞机 (飛機)fēi jīairplane; measure word: 架 (jià)
机场 (機場)jī chǎngairport; airfield; (slang) service provider for Shadowsocks or similar software for circumventing Internet censorship
活动 (活動)huó dòngto exercise; to move about; to work out; shaky; unsteady; loose (tooth etc)
运动 (運動)yùn dòngto 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.

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