King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Chinese symbol for “alas”

唉
ài
alas; oh dear

The closest CC-CEDICT match for alas is 唉 (ài), defined as: alas; oh dear.

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

唉 ài
alas; exclamation of surprise or pain
radical 30 ⼝ · 10 strokes

Other Chinese words for “alas”

WordPinyinMeaning
呜呼 (嗚呼)wū hūalas; alack
呜呼哀哉 (嗚呼哀哉)wū hū āi zāialas; all is lost

Related words

Other words that share a character with 唉.

WordPinyinMeaning
唉声叹气 (唉聲嘆氣)āi shēng tàn qìsighing voice, wailing breath (idiom); to heave deep sighs
唉唉āi āi(onom.) sighing voice; crying sound
唉姐āi jiěgranny (dialect)

See also: Japanese symbol for “alas”.

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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