Chinese symbol for “cliff”
岩
yán
cliff; rock
The closest CC-CEDICT match for cliff is 岩 (yán), defined as: cliff; rock.
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 “cliff”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 峭壁 | qiào bì | cliff; steep |
| 山崖 | shān yá | cliff |
| 嶂 | zhàng | cliff; range of peaks |
| 崖 | yá | precipice; cliff; Taiwan pr. [yai2] |
| 悬岩 (懸岩) | xuán yán | cliff |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 岩.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 岩石 | yán shí | (geology) rock |
| 岩浆 (岩漿) | yán jiāng | (geology) magma |
| 花岗岩 (花崗岩) | huā gāng yán | granite |
| 熔岩 | róng yán | (geology) lava |
| 岩画 (巖畫) | yán huà | rock painting; picture or writing carved on rocks |
| 石灰岩 | shí huī yán | limestone |
See also: Japanese symbol for “cliff”.
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.