Chinese symbol for “desperate”
绝望
jué wàng
Traditional: 絕望
to despair; to give up all hope; desperate; desperation
The closest CC-CEDICT match for desperate is 绝望 (jué wàng), defined as: to despair; to give up all hope; desperate; desperation.
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 “desperate”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 危急 | wēi jí | critical; desperate (situation) |
| 惨烈 (慘烈) | cǎn liè | bitter; desperate |
| 走投无路 (走投無路) | zǒu tóu wú lù | to be at an impasse (idiom); in a tight spot |
| 穷蹙 (窮蹙) | qióng cù | hard-up; in dire straits |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 绝望.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 绝对 (絕對) | jué duì | absolute; unconditional |
| 拒绝 (拒絕) | jù jué | to refuse; to decline; to reject |
| 绝不 (絕不) | jué bù | in no way; not in the least; absolutely not |
| 绝大多数 (絕大多數) | jué dà duō shù | the vast majority |
| 灭绝 (滅絕) | miè jué | to become extinct; to die out; to lose (sth abstract) completely |
| 希望 | xī wàng | to hope; a hope; a wish |
| 失望 | shī wàng | disappointed; to lose hope |
| 愿望 (願望) | yuàn wàng | desire; wish |
See also: Japanese symbol for “desperate”.
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.