Chinese symbol for “dire”
吃紧
chī jǐn
Traditional: 吃緊
in short supply; dire; tense; critical
The closest CC-CEDICT match for dire is 吃紧 (chī jǐn), defined as: in short supply; dire; tense; critical; hard-pressed; important.
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 吃紧.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 吃饭 (吃飯) | chī fàn | to have a meal; to eat |
| 好吃 | hǎo chī | tasty; delicious |
| 吃惊 (吃驚) | chī jīng | to be startled; to be shocked |
| 小吃 | xiǎo chī | street food; snack |
| 吃掉 | chī diào | to eat up; to consume |
| 紧张 (緊張) | jǐn zhāng | nervous; keyed up |
| 紧急 (緊急) | jǐn jí | urgent; emergency |
| 赶紧 (趕緊) | gǎn jǐn | hurriedly; without delay |
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.