Chinese symbol for “detection”
侦察
zhēn chá
Traditional: 偵察
to investigate a crime; to scout; to reconnoiter; reconnaissance
The closest CC-CEDICT match for detection is 侦察 (zhēn chá), defined as: to investigate a crime; to scout; to reconnoiter; reconnaissance; detection; a scout.
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
Related words
Other words that share a character with 侦察.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 侦探 (偵探) | zhēn tàn | detective; to do detective work |
| 侦查 (偵查) | zhēn chá | to detect; to investigate |
| 侦测 (偵測) | zhēn cè | to detect; to sense |
| 侦察机 (偵察機) | zhēn chá jī | surveillance aircraft; spy plane |
| 侦破 (偵破) | zhēn pò | to investigate (as detective); to solve (crime) |
| 警察 | jǐng chá | police; police officer |
| 观察 (觀察) | guān chá | to observe; to watch; to survey |
| 考察 | kǎo chá | to inspect; to observe and study |
See also: Japanese symbol for “detection”.
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.