Chinese symbol for “critical”
严重
yán zhòng
Traditional: 嚴重
grave; serious; severe; critical
The closest CC-CEDICT match for critical is 严重 (yán zhòng), defined as: grave; serious; severe; critical.
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 “critical”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 危急 | wēi jí | critical; desperate (situation) |
| 临界 (臨界) | lín jiè | critical; boundary |
| 紧要 (緊要) | jǐn yào | critical; crucial |
| 沉重 | chén zhòng | heavy; hard |
| 吃紧 (吃緊) | chī jǐn | in short supply; dire |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 严重.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 严格 (嚴格) | yán gé | strict; stringent; tight; rigorous |
| 严肃 (嚴肅) | yán sù | (of an atmosphere etc) solemn; grave; serious; (of a manner etc) earnest; severe; exacting |
| 尊严 (尊嚴) | zūn yán | dignity; sanctity |
| 严厉 (嚴厲) | yán lì | severe; strict |
| 严峻 (嚴峻) | yán jùn | grim; severe |
| 重要 | zhòng yào | important; significant; major |
| 重点 (重點) | chóng diǎn | to recount (e.g. results of election); to re-evaluate |
| 重新 | chóng xīn | again; once more; re- |
See also: Japanese symbol for “critical”.
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.