Chinese symbol for “along”
沿
yán
along; to follow (a line, tradition etc); to carry on; to trim (a border with braid, tape etc)
The closest CC-CEDICT match for along is 沿 (yán), defined as: along; to follow (a line, tradition etc); to carry on; to trim (a border with braid, tape etc); border; edge.
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
Other Chinese words for “along”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 顺 (順) | shùn | to obey; to follow |
| 缘 (緣) | yuán | cause; reason |
| 顺着 (順著) | shùn zhe | to follow; following |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 沿.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 沿海 | yán hǎi | coastal |
| 沿岸 | yán àn | coastal area; littoral or riparian |
| 沿着 (沿著) | yán zhe | to go along; to follow |
| 沿用 | yán yòng | to continue to use (old methods); to apply as before |
| 沿线 (沿線) | yán xiàn | along the line (e.g. railway); the region near the line |
| 沿革 | yán gé | evolution of sth over time; course of development |
See also: Japanese symbol for “along”.
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.