Chinese symbol for “desolate”
荒
huāng
desolate; shortage; scarce; out of practice
The closest CC-CEDICT match for desolate is 荒 (huāng), defined as: desolate; shortage; scarce; out of practice; absurd; uncultivated.
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 “desolate”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 冷落 | lěng luò | desolate; unfrequented |
| 荒凉 (荒涼) | huāng liáng | desolate |
| 凄凉 (淒涼) | qī liáng | desolate (place) |
| 苍凉 (蒼涼) | cāng liáng | desolate; bleak |
| 萧条 (蕭條) | xiāo tiáo | bleak; desolate; (economics) in a slump; sluggish; depressed |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 荒.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 荒谬 (荒謬) | huāng miù | absurd; ridiculous |
| 饥荒 (饑荒) | jī huāng | crop failure; famine |
| 荒唐 | huāng táng | beyond belief; preposterous |
| 荒废 (荒廢) | huāng fèi | to abandon (cultivated fields); no longer cultivated |
| 荒野 | huāng yě | wilderness |
| 荒诞 (荒誕) | huāng dàn | beyond belief; incredible |
See also: Japanese symbol for “desolate”.
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.