Chinese symbol for “awful”
可怕
kě pà
awful; dreadful; fearful; formidable
The closest CC-CEDICT match for awful is 可怕 (kě pà), defined as: awful; dreadful; fearful; formidable; frightful; scary.
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
Other Chinese words for “awful”
Related words
Other words that share a character with 可怕.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 可以 | kě yǐ | can; may |
| 可能 | kě néng | might (happen); possible |
| 可是 | kě shì | but; however; (used for emphasis) indeed |
| 不可 | bù kě | cannot; should not; must not |
| 可爱 (可愛) | kě ài | adorable; cute |
| 害怕 | hài pà | to be afraid; to be scared |
| 恐怕 | kǒng pà | fear; to dread |
| 不怕 | bù pà | fearless; not worried (by setbacks or difficulties) |
See also: Japanese symbol for “awful”.
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.