King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Chinese symbol for “appoint”

指定
zhǐ dìng
to appoint; to assign; to indicate clearly and with certainty; designated

The closest CC-CEDICT match for appoint is 指定 (zhǐ dìng), defined as: to appoint; to assign; to indicate clearly and with certainty; designated.

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

指 zhǐ
finger, toe; to point, to indicate
radical 64 ⼿ · 9 strokes
定 dìng
to decide, to fix, to settle; to order; definite, fixed, sure
radical 40 ⼧ · 8 strokes

Other Chinese words for “appoint”

WordPinyinMeaning
任命rèn mìngto appoint; (job) appointment
任用rèn yòngto appoint; to assign
委任wěi rènto appoint
委派wěi pàito appoint
聘任pìn rènto appoint (to a position); appointed

Related words

Other words that share a character with 指定.

WordPinyinMeaning
指出zhǐ chūto indicate; to point out
指导 (指導)zhǐ dǎoto guide; to direct; to instruct; coach; trainer
指挥 (指揮)zhǐ huīto conduct; to command
指数 (指數)zhǐ shù(numerical, statistical) index; (math.) exponent
指标 (指標)zhǐ biāo(production) target; quota; index; indicator
决定 (決定)jué dìngto decide; to determine; to make up one's mind; decision (个 (gè),项 (xiàng))
一定yī dìngsurely; certainly; definitely; fixed; settled
规定 (規定)guī dìngto stipulate; to specify; to prescribe; to fix (a price); to set (a quota); regulations; rules; provisions; stipulations

See also: Japanese symbol for “appoint”.

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.