Chinese symbol for “dong”

当

dāng

Traditional: 噹

(onom.) dong; ding dong (bell)

The closest CC-CEDICT match for dong is 当 (dāng), defined as: (onom.) dong; ding dong (bell).

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

当 dāng

appropriate, timely; to act, to serve; the sound of bells

radical 58 ⼹ · 6 strokes

Traditional forms

噹 dāng

Related words

Other words that share a character with 当.

Word	Pinyin	Meaning
当时 (當時)	dāng shí	then; at that time
当然 (當然)	dāng rán	only natural; as it should be
当地 (當地)	dāng dì	local
相当 (相當)	xiāng dāng	equivalent to; appropriate
当年 (當年)	dāng nián	in those days; back then; in those years; to be in the prime of life

See also: Japanese symbol for “dong”.

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.