Chinese symbol for “atone”

立功赎罪

lì gōng shú zuì

Traditional: 立功贖罪

to redeem oneself; to atone

The closest CC-CEDICT match for atone is 立功赎罪 (lì gōng shú zuì), defined as: to redeem oneself; to atone.

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

立 lì

to stand; to establish, to set up

radical 117 ⽴ · 5 strokes

功 gōng

achievement, good work; merit; service

radical 19 ⼒ · 5 strokes

赎 shú

ransom; to buy; to redeem

radical 154 ⾙ · 12 strokes

罪 zuì

sin, vice; fault, guilt; crime

radical 122 ⽹ · 13 strokes

Traditional forms

贖 shú

Related words

Other words that share a character with 立功赎罪.

Word	Pinyin	Meaning
建立	jiàn lì	to establish; to set up
成立	chéng lì	to establish; to set up
独立 (獨立)	dú lì	independent; independence
设立 (設立)	shè lì	to set up; to establish
立即	lì jí	immediately
立法	lì fǎ	to enact laws; to legislate
成功	chéng gōng	to succeed; success
功能	gōng néng	function; capability
救赎 (救贖)	jiù shú	to redeem; redemption; salvation
犯罪	fàn zuì	to commit a crime; crime; offense

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.