Chinese symbol for “behead”
斩
zhǎn
Traditional: 斬
to behead (as form of capital punishment); to chop
The closest CC-CEDICT match for behead is 斩 (zhǎn), defined as: to behead (as form of capital punishment); to chop.
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 “behead”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 斩首 (斬首) | zhǎn shǒu | to behead; to decapitate |
| 殊死 | shū sǐ | to behead; capital punishment |
| 杀头 (殺頭) | shā tóu | to behead |
| 斩杀 (斬殺) | zhǎn shā | to behead |
| 枭首 (梟首) | xiāo shǒu | to behead |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 斩.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 斩首 (斬首) | zhǎn shǒu | to behead; to decapitate |
| 斩断 (斬斷) | zhǎn duàn | to cut off; to chop sth in half |
| 斩获 (斬獲) | zhǎn huò | to kill or capture (in battle); (fig.) (sports) to score (a goal); to win (a medal) |
| 斩钉截铁 (斬釘截鐵) | zhǎn dīng jié tiě | (lit.) to chop the nail and slice the iron (idiom); (fig.) resolute and decisive; unhesitating; categorical |
| 腰斩 (腰斬) | yāo zhǎn | to chop sb in half at the waist (capital punishment); to cut sth in half |
| 斩杀 (斬殺) | zhǎn shā | to behead |
See also: Japanese symbol for “behead”.
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.
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