Chinese symbol for “authority”
权
quán
Traditional: 權
authority; power; right; (literary) to weigh
The closest CC-CEDICT match for authority is 权 (quán), defined as: authority; power; right; (literary) to weigh; expedient; temporary.
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 “authority”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 权威 (權威) | quán wēi | authority; authoritative |
| 职权 (職權) | zhí quán | authority; power over others |
| 威权 (威權) | wēi quán | authority; power |
| 权威性 (權威性) | quán wēi xìng | authority; authoritativeness |
| 权柄 (權柄) | quán bǐng | authority |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 权.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 权利 (權利) | quán lì | right (i.e. an entitlement to sth); (classical) power and wealth |
| 权力 (權力) | quán lì | power; authority |
| 政权 (政權) | zhèng quán | regime; political power |
| 人权 (人權) | rén quán | human rights |
| 授权 (授權) | shòu quán | to authorize |
| 有权 (有權) | yǒu quán | to have the right to; to be entitled to |
See also: Japanese symbol for “authority”.
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.