Chinese symbol for “brothers”
兄弟
xiōng dì
brothers; younger brother; 个 (gè); I, me (humble term used by men in public speech)
The closest CC-CEDICT match for brothers is 兄弟 (xiōng dì), defined as: brothers; younger brother; 个 (gè); I, me (humble term used by men in public speech); brotherly; fraternal.
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 “brothers”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 弟兄 | dì xiong | brothers; comrade |
| 弟兄们 (弟兄們) | dì xiōng men | brothers; comrades |
| 哥儿 (哥兒) | gē r | brothers; boys |
| 手足 | shǒu zú | hands and feet; (fig.) brothers |
| 昆仲 | kūn zhòng | (literary) brothers; elder and younger brother |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 兄弟.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 弟兄 | dì xiong | brothers; comrade |
| 兄妹 | xiōng mèi | brother(s) and sister(s) |
| 兄长 (兄長) | xiōng zhǎng | elder brother; term of respect for a man of about the same age |
| 师兄 (師兄) | shī xiōng | senior male fellow disciple or student (by seniority, not age); son of one's teacher who is older than oneself |
| 兄弟姐妹 | xiōng dì jiě mèi | brothers and sisters; siblings |
| 弟弟 | dì di | younger brother; 个 (gè),位 (wèi) |
| 弟子 | dì zǐ | disciple; follower |
| 徒弟 | tú dì | apprentice; disciple |
See also: Japanese symbol for “brothers”.
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.