King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Chinese symbol for “brake”

刹车
shā chē
Traditional: 剎車
to brake (when driving); to stop; to switch off; to check (bad habits)

The closest CC-CEDICT match for brake is 刹车 (shā chē), defined as: to brake (when driving); to stop; to switch off; to check (bad habits); a brake.

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

刹 shā
temple, shrine, monastary; an instant, a moment; to brake
radical 18 ⼑ · 8 strokes
车 chē
cart, vehicle; to move in a cart
radical 159 ⾞ · 4 strokes

Traditional forms

Other Chinese words for “brake”

WordPinyinMeaning
制动 (制動)zhì dòngto brake
煞车 (煞車)shā chēto brake (when driving)
刹 (剎)shāto brake
制动器 (制動器)zhì dòng qìbrake
轫 (軔)rènbrake

Related words

Other words that share a character with 刹车.

WordPinyinMeaning
一刹那 (一剎那)yī chà nàa moment; an instant
刹那 (剎那)chà nàan instant (Sanskrit: ksana); split second; the twinkling of an eye
古刹 (古剎)gǔ chàold Buddhist temple
什刹海 (什剎海)shí chà hǎiShichahai, scenic area of northwest Beijing with three lakes
急刹车 (急剎車)jí shā chēemergency braking
汽车 (汽車)qì chēcar; automobile
车辆 (車輛)chē liàngvehicle
火车 (火車)huǒ chētrain; measure word: 列 (liè), 节 (jié), 班 (bān), 趟 (tàng)

See also: Japanese symbol for “brake”.

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.

Last posts

  1. Are Cold Steel Training Swords Good for Practice
  2. Shinai Maintenance and Essential Tools for Bamboo Care
  3. Best Shinai for Kendo Beginners Choosing Your First Sword
  4. Choosing the Best Bokken for Kendo Kata
  5. Using a Tsuba on Your Bokken for Partner Practice
  6. How Much Should You Spend on a Wooden Practice Sword
  7. How Long Should a Bokken Be for Your Height
  8. Red Oak vs White Oak for Bokken Which Wood Wins
  9. Best Bokken for Beginners: Choosing Your First Training Sword
  10. Best Escrima Sticks for Students Choosing Your First Pair