Chinese symbol for “defy”
抗
kàng
to resist; to fight; to defy; anti-
The closest CC-CEDICT match for defy is 抗 (kàng), defined as: to resist; to fight; to defy; anti-.
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 “defy”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 抗拒 | kàng jù | to resist; to defy |
| 不畏 | bù wèi | unafraid; to defy |
| 傲 | ào | proud; arrogant |
| 违拗 (違拗) | wéi ào | to disobey; to defy; to deliberately go against (a rule, a convention, sb's wishes etc) |
| 横眉立目 (橫眉立目) | héng méi lì mù | to scowl and stare down; to defy |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 抗.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 抗议 (抗議) | kàng yì | to protest; protest |
| 对抗 (對抗) | duì kàng | to withstand; to resist |
| 反抗 | fǎn kàng | to resist; to rebel |
| 抗日 | kàng Rì | to resist Japan (esp. during WW2); anti-Japanese (esp. wartime activities) |
| 抗战 (抗戰) | kàng zhàn | war of resistance, especially the war against Japan (1937-1945) |
| 抵抗 | dǐ kàng | to resist; resistance |
See also: Japanese symbol for “defy”.
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.