King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Chinese symbol for “capable”

能干
néng gàn
Traditional: 能幹
capable; competent

The closest CC-CEDICT match for capable is 能干 (néng gàn), defined as: capable; competent.

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

能 néng
can, may; capable, full of energy
radical 130 ⾁ · 10 strokes
干 gàn
arid, dry; to oppose; to offend; to invade
radical 51 ⼲ · 3 strokes

Traditional forms

Other Chinese words for “capable”

WordPinyinMeaning
行xíng(bound form) to walk; to go; to travel; (literary) trip; journey; visit
有才干 (有才幹)yǒu cái gàncapable
心灵手巧 (心靈手巧)xīn líng shǒu qiǎocapable; clever
棒bàngstick; club
得力dé lìable; capable

Related words

Other words that share a character with 能干.

WordPinyinMeaning
可能kě néngmight (happen); possible
不能bù néngcannot; must not
能够 (能夠)néng gòuto be capable of; to be able to
能力néng lìcapability; ability
才能cái néngtalent; ability
功能gōng néngfunction; capability
干部 (幹部)gàn bùcadre; official
干净 (乾淨)gān jìngclean; neat

See also: Japanese symbol for “capable”.

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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