Chinese symbol for “corruption”
腐败
fǔ bài
Traditional: 腐敗
corruption; to corrupt; to rot; rotten
The closest CC-CEDICT match for corruption is 腐败 (fǔ bài), defined as: corruption; to corrupt; to rot; rotten.
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
Other Chinese words for “corruption”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 贪腐 (貪腐) | tān fǔ | corruption |
| 贪污腐败 (貪污腐敗) | tān wū fǔ bài | corruption |
| 贪污腐化 (貪汙腐化) | tān wū fǔ huà | (idiom) corruption |
| 贪污 (貪污) | tān wū | to be corrupt; corruption |
| 腐蚀 (腐蝕) | fǔ shí | corrosion; to corrode (degrade chemically) |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 腐败.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 豆腐 | dòu fu | tofu; bean curd |
| 贪腐 (貪腐) | tān fǔ | corruption |
| 腐蚀 (腐蝕) | fǔ shí | corrosion; to corrode (degrade chemically) |
| 腐朽 | fǔ xiǔ | rotten; decayed |
| 腐烂 (腐爛) | fǔ làn | to rot; to putrefy |
| 失败 (失敗) | shī bài | to be defeated; to lose |
| 打败 (打敗) | dǎ bài | to defeat; to overpower |
| 击败 (擊敗) | jī bài | to defeat; to beat |
See also: Japanese symbol for “corruption”.
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.