Chinese symbol for “deadpan”
一本正经
yī běn zhèng jīng
Traditional: 一本正經
(idiom) in deadly earnest; deadpan
The closest CC-CEDICT match for deadpan is 一本正经 (yī běn zhèng jīng), defined as: (idiom) in deadly earnest; deadpan.
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
Related words
Other words that share a character with 一本正经.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 一个 (一個) | yī ge | a; an; one; the whole (afternoon, summer vacation etc) |
| 一些 | yī xiē | some; a few; a little; (following an adjective) slightly ...er |
| 一样 (一樣) | yī yàng | same; like |
| 一定 | yī dìng | surely; certainly; definitely; fixed; settled |
| 一起 | yī qǐ | (in) the same place; together; in company (with) |
| 一直 | yī zhí | straight (in a straight line); continuously; always; all the way through |
| 根本 | gēn běn | fundamental; basic |
| 基本 | jī běn | basic; fundamental |
| 正在 | zhèng zài | to be in the process of (doing sth); to be currently ...-ing |
| 已经 (已經) | yǐ jīng | already |
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.