Chinese symbol for “coward”
懦夫
nuò fū
coward
The closest CC-CEDICT match for coward is 懦夫 (nuò fū), defined as: coward.
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 “coward”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 胆小鬼 (膽小鬼) | dǎn xiǎo guǐ | coward |
| 孬种 (孬種) | nāo zhǒng | coward; useless scoundrel |
| 俗辣 | sú là | (slang) (Tw) coward; paper tiger; a nobody (from Taiwanese 卒仔, Tai-lo pr. [tsut-á]) |
| 狗熊 | gǒu xióng | black bear; coward |
| 缩头乌龟 (縮頭烏龜) | suō tóu wū guī | a turtle that pulls its head in; (fig.) coward |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 懦夫.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 懦弱 | nuò ruò | cowardly; weak |
| 怯懦 | qiè nuò | timid; cowardly; chicken-hearted |
| 愚懦 | yú nuò | ignorant and timid |
| 丈夫 | zhàng fu | husband |
| 夫人 | fū ren | lady; madam |
| 夫妻 | fū qī | husband and wife; married couple |
| 夫妇 (夫婦) | fū fù | a (married) couple; husband and wife |
| 功夫 | gōng fu | skill; art |
See also: Japanese symbol for “coward”.
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.