King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

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

拘 jū
to detain, to restrain, to seize
radical 64 ⼿ · 8 strokes
留 liú
to stay, to remain; to preserve, to keep; to leave a message;
radical 102 ⽥ · 10 strokes

Other Chinese words for “detain”

WordPinyinMeaning
扣押kòu yāto detain; to hold in custody
羁押 (羈押)jī yāto detain; to take into custody
扣住kòu zhùto detain; to hold back by force
看押kān yāto detain; to take into custody
傺chìto detain; to hinder

Related words

Other words that share a character with 拘留.

WordPinyinMeaning
拘捕jū bǔto arrest
拘束jū shùto restrict; to restrain
拘留所jū liú suǒdetention center; prison
拘禁jū jìnconstraint; to detain
拘役jū yìdetention
留下liú xiàto leave behind; to stay behind
保留bǎo liúto keep; to retain
留言liú yánto 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.

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