Chinese symbol for “awesome”
The closest CC-CEDICT match for awesome is 厉害 (lì hai), defined as: (used to describe sb or sth that makes a very strong impression, whether favorable or unfavorable) terrible; intense; severe; devastating; amazing; awesome; outstanding; (of a person) stern; strict; harsh; shrewd; tough; (of an animal) fierce; (of a resemblance) striking; (of liquor or chili pepper) strong; (of bacteria) virulent.
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 “awesome”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 真香 | zhēn xiāng | awesome (expression of approval used hypocritically after bitching about the exact same thing earlier) (neologism c. 2014) |
| 帅呆了 (帥呆了) | shuài dāi le | awesome; brilliant |
| 神 | shén | god; deity; supernatural; magical; mysterious |
| 牛 | niú | ox; cow |
| 酷毙 (酷斃) | kù bì | (slang) awesome; cool |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 厉害.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 严厉 (嚴厲) | yán lì | severe; strict |
| 再接再厉 (再接再厲) | zài jiē zài lì | to continue the struggle (idiom); to persist; unremitting efforts |
| 变本加厉 (變本加厲) | biàn běn jiā lì | lit. change to more severe (idiom); to become more intense (esp. of shortcoming); to aggravate |
| 严厉批评 (嚴厲批評) | yán lì pī píng | to criticize severely; to slate |
| 凌厉 (凌厲) | líng lì | swift and fierce; fierce |
| 伤害 (傷害) | shāng hài | to injure; to harm |
| 害怕 | hài pà | to be afraid; to be scared |
| 受害者 | shòu hài zhě | casualty; victim |
See also: Japanese symbol for “awesome”.
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.