Chinese symbol for “cruel”
残酷
cán kù
Traditional: 殘酷
cruel; harsh; merciless
The closest CC-CEDICT match for cruel is 残酷 (cán kù), defined as: cruel; harsh; merciless.
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 “cruel”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 残忍 (殘忍) | cán rěn | cruel; merciless; ruthless |
| 凶狠 | xiōng hěn | cruel; vicious |
| 毒辣 | dú là | cruel; sinister |
| 残虐 (殘虐) | cán nüè | cruel; to treat cruelly |
| 毒 | dú | poison; to poison |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 残酷.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 残忍 (殘忍) | cán rěn | cruel; merciless; ruthless |
| 残疾 (殘疾) | cán jí | disabled; handicapped |
| 残疾人 (殘疾人) | cán jí rén | disabled person |
| 残留 (殘留) | cán liú | to remain; to be left over; residual; remnant |
| 残暴 (殘暴) | cán bào | brutal; vicious; ruthless |
| 酷刑 | kù xíng | cruelty; torture |
| 冷酷 | lěng kù | unfeeling; callous |
| 严酷 (嚴酷) | yán kù | bitter; harsh |
See also: Japanese symbol for “cruel”.
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.