Chinese symbol for “clockwork”
发条
fā tiáo
Traditional: 發條
clockwork spring (used to power a watch or windup toy etc); (attributive) windup; clockwork
The closest CC-CEDICT match for clockwork is 发条 (fā tiáo), defined as: clockwork spring (used to power a watch or windup toy etc); (attributive) windup; clockwork.
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
Related words
Other words that share a character with 发条.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 发展 (發展) | fā zhǎn | development; growth |
| 发生 (發生) | fā shēng | to happen; to occur; to take place; to arise (e.g. 发生问题 (fā shēng wèn tí) "a problem arises") |
| 发现 (發現) | fā xiàn | to notice; to become aware of; to discover; to find; to detect |
| 开发 (開發) | kāi fā | to exploit (a resource); to open up (for development); to develop |
| 发布 (發佈) | fā bù | variant of 发布 (fā bù) |
| 条件 (條件) | tiáo jiàn | condition; circumstance; term; factor; requirement; prerequisite; qualification |
| 条例 (條例) | tiáo lì | regulations; rules; code of conduct; ordinances; statutes |
| 条约 (條約) | tiáo yuē | treaty; pact |
See also: Japanese symbol for “clockwork”.
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.