Chinese symbol for “austere”
肃杀
sù shā
Traditional: 肅殺
austere; stern; harsh; somber and desolate (autumn or winter)
The closest CC-CEDICT match for austere is 肃杀 (sù shā), defined as: austere; stern; harsh; somber and desolate (autumn or winter).
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
Traditional forms
Other Chinese words for “austere”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 拙朴 (拙樸) | zhuō pǔ | austere; humble |
| 凛 (凜) | lǐn | cold; to shiver with cold |
| 清苦 | qīng kǔ | destitute but honest; poor and simple |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 肃杀.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 严肃 (嚴肅) | yán sù | (of an atmosphere etc) solemn; grave; serious; (of a manner etc) earnest; severe; exacting |
| 肃清 (肅清) | sù qīng | to purge |
| 整肃 (整肅) | zhěng sù | strict; serious |
| 肃静 (肅靜) | sù jìng | solemnly silent |
| 肃穆 (肅穆) | sù mù | solemn and respectful; serene |
| 肃然起敬 (肅然起敬) | sù rán qǐ jìng | to feel deep veneration for sb (idiom) |
| 自杀 (自殺) | zì shā | to kill oneself; to commit suicide |
| 杀人 (殺人) | shā rén | to kill a person; to commit murder |
See also: Japanese symbol for “austere”.
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.