Chinese symbol for “brains”
头脑
tóu nǎo
Traditional: 頭腦
brains; mind; skull; (fig.) gist (of a matter)
The closest CC-CEDICT match for brains is 头脑 (tóu nǎo), defined as: brains; mind; skull; (fig.) gist (of a matter); leader; boss.
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 “brains”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 脑子 (腦子) | nǎo zi | brains; mind |
| 脑筋 (腦筋) | nǎo jīn | brains; mind |
| 脑浆 (腦漿) | nǎo jiāng | brains |
| 脑汁 (腦汁) | nǎo zhī | brains |
| 脑袋 (腦袋) | nǎo dai | head; skull |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 头脑.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 头发 (頭髮) | tóu fa | hair (on the head) |
| 街头 (街頭) | jiē tóu | street |
| 镜头 (鏡頭) | jìng tóu | camera lens; camera shot (in a movie etc) |
| 石头 (石頭) | shí tou | stone; 块 (kuài) |
| 码头 (碼頭) | mǎ tou | wharf; dock; quay; pier |
| 回头 (回頭) | huí tóu | to turn round; to turn one's head; later; by and by |
| 电脑 (電腦) | diàn nǎo | computer; 台 (tái) |
| 脑袋 (腦袋) | nǎo dai | head; skull |
See also: Japanese symbol for “brains”.
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.