Chinese symbol for “devastating”
The closest CC-CEDICT match for devastating is 厉害 (lì hai), defined as: (used to describe sb or sth that makes a very strong impression, whether favorable or unfavorable) terrible; intense; severe; devastating; amazing; awesome; outstanding; (of a person) stern; strict; harsh; shrewd; tough; (of an animal) fierce; (of a resemblance) striking; (of liquor or chili pepper) strong; (of bacteria) virulent.
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 “devastating”
Related words
Other words that share a character with 厉害.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 严厉 (嚴厲) | yán lì | severe; strict |
| 再接再厉 (再接再厲) | zài jiē zài lì | to continue the struggle (idiom); to persist; unremitting efforts |
| 变本加厉 (變本加厲) | biàn běn jiā lì | lit. change to more severe (idiom); to become more intense (esp. of shortcoming); to aggravate |
| 严厉批评 (嚴厲批評) | yán lì pī píng | to criticize severely; to slate |
| 凌厉 (凌厲) | líng lì | swift and fierce; fierce |
| 伤害 (傷害) | shāng hài | to injure; to harm |
| 害怕 | hài pà | to be afraid; to be scared |
| 受害者 | shòu hài zhě | casualty; victim |
See also: Japanese symbol for “devastating”.
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.