Chinese symbol for “detain”
拘留
jū liú
to detain (as a prisoner); to keep sb in custody
The closest CC-CEDICT match for detain is 拘留 (jū liú), defined as: to detain (as a prisoner); to keep sb in custody.
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 “detain”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 扣押 | kòu yā | to detain; to hold in custody |
| 羁押 (羈押) | jī yā | to detain; to take into custody |
| 扣住 | kòu zhù | to detain; to hold back by force |
| 看押 | kān yā | to detain; to take into custody |
| 傺 | chì | to detain; to hinder |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 拘留.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 拘捕 | jū bǔ | to arrest |
| 拘束 | jū shù | to restrict; to restrain |
| 拘留所 | jū liú suǒ | detention center; prison |
| 拘禁 | jū jìn | constraint; to detain |
| 拘役 | jū yì | detention |
| 留下 | liú xià | to leave behind; to stay behind |
| 保留 | bǎo liú | to keep; to retain |
| 留言 | liú yán | to leave a message; to leave one's comments; message |
See also: Japanese symbol for “detain”.
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.