Chinese symbol for “delay”
延迟
yán chí
Traditional: 延遲
to delay; to postpone; to keep putting sth off; to procrastinate
The closest CC-CEDICT match for delay is 延迟 (yán chí), defined as: to delay; to postpone; to keep putting sth off; to procrastinate; (computing) to lag.
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 “delay”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 延期 | yán qī | to delay; to extend |
| 拖延 | tuō yán | to delay; to put off |
| 耽误 (耽誤) | dān wu | to delay; to hold up |
| 耽搁 (耽擱) | dān ge | to delay; to hold up; to tarry; to stay |
| 迟滞 (遲滯) | chí zhì | delay; procrastination |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 延迟.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 延长 (延長) | yán cháng | to prolong; to extend |
| 延伸 | yán shēn | to extend; to stretch; to expand; to spread |
| 延续 (延續) | yán xù | to continue; to go on |
| 延期 | yán qī | to delay; to extend |
| 蔓延 | màn yán | to spread; to extend |
| 推迟 (推遲) | tuī chí | to postpone; to put off |
| 迟到 (遲到) | chí dào | to arrive late |
| 迟早 (遲早) | chí zǎo | sooner or later |
See also: Japanese symbol for “delay”.
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.