Chinese symbol for “book”
书
shū
Traditional: 書
book; letter; document; measure word: 本 (běn), 册 (cè), 部 (bù)
The closest CC-CEDICT match for book is 书 (shū), defined as: book; letter; document; measure word: 本 (běn), 册 (cè), 部 (bù); to write.
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 “book”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 册 (冊) | cè | book; booklet |
| 籍 | jí | (bound form) book; record; register; (bound form) place of one's family or ancestral records |
| 书本 (書本) | shū běn | book (chiefly used to refer to a plurality of books or books in general) |
| 簿 | bù | a book; a register |
| 本子 | běn zi | book; notebook |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 书.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 书记 (書記) | shū ji | secretary (head of a Communist Party or Communist Youth League organization); clerk; scribe |
| 秘书 (秘書) | mì shū | secretary |
| 图书馆 (圖書館) | tú shū guǎn | library; measure word: 家 (jiā), 个 (gè) |
| 书籍 (書籍) | shū jí | books; works |
| 读书 (讀書) | dú shū | to read a book; to study |
| 秘书长 (秘書長) | mì shū zhǎng | secretary-general |
See also: Japanese symbol for “book”.
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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