King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Chinese symbol for “cognition”

认知
rèn zhī
Traditional: 認知
cognition; cognitive; understanding; perception

The closest CC-CEDICT match for cognition is 认知 (rèn zhī), defined as: cognition; cognitive; understanding; perception; awareness; to be cognizant of.

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

认 rèn
to know, to recognize, to understand
radical 149 ⾔ · 4 strokes
知 zhī
to know, to perceive, to comprehend
radical 111 ⽮ · 8 strokes

Traditional forms

Other Chinese words for “cognition”

WordPinyinMeaning
认识 (認識)rèn shito know; to recognize
理性认识 (理性認識)lǐ xìng rèn shicognition; rational knowledge

Related words

Other words that share a character with 认知.

WordPinyinMeaning
认为 (認為)rèn wéito believe; to think; to consider; to feel
认识 (認識)rèn shito know; to recognize
承认 (承認)chéng rènto admit; to concede
认真 (認真)rèn zhēnconscientious; earnest
确认 (確認)què rènto confirm; to verify
认证 (認證)rèn zhèngto authenticate; to approve
知道zhī dàoto know; to become aware of; also pr. [zhi1dao5]
知识 (知識)zhī shiknowledge; 门 (mén)

See also: Japanese symbol for “cognition”.

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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