Chinese symbol for “dilemma”
两难
liǎng nán
Traditional: 兩難
dilemma; quandary; to be faced with a difficult choice
The closest CC-CEDICT match for dilemma is 两难 (liǎng nán), defined as: dilemma; quandary; to be faced with a difficult choice.
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 “dilemma”
Related words
Other words that share a character with 两难.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 两岸 (兩岸) | liǎng àn | bilateral; both shores |
| 两者 (兩者) | liǎng zhě | both of them; the two of them |
| 两侧 (兩側) | liǎng cè | two sides; both sides |
| 两边 (兩邊) | liǎng biān | either side; both sides |
| 两面 (兩面) | liǎng miàn | both sides |
| 两倍 (兩倍) | liǎng bèi | twice as much; double the amount |
| 困难 (困難) | kùn nan | difficult; challenging |
| 难道 (難道) | nán dào | don't tell me ...; could it be that...? |
See also: Japanese symbol for “dilemma”.
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.