Chinese symbol for “discover”
发现
fā xiàn
Traditional: 發現
to notice; to become aware of; to discover; to find; to detect; a discovery
The closest CC-CEDICT match for discover is 发现 (fā xiàn), defined as: to notice; to become aware of; to discover; to find; to detect; a discovery.
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 “discover”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 查出 | chá chū | to find out; to discover |
| 窥知 (窺知) | kuī zhī | to find out about; to discover |
| 寻出 (尋出) | xún chū | to find out; to search out |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 发现.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 发展 (發展) | fā zhǎn | development; growth |
| 发生 (發生) | fā shēng | to happen; to occur; to take place; to arise (e.g. 发生问题 (fā shēng wèn tí) "a problem arises") |
| 开发 (開發) | kāi fā | to exploit (a resource); to open up (for development); to develop |
| 发布 (發佈) | fā bù | variant of 发布 (fā bù) |
| 现在 (現在) | xiàn zài | now; at present; currently |
| 出现 (出現) | chū xiàn | to appear; to arise; to emerge; to show up |
| 实现 (實現) | shí xiàn | to achieve; to implement; to realize; to bring about |
| 表现 (表現) | biǎo xiàn | to show; to show off |
See also: Japanese symbol for “discover”.
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.