King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Chinese symbol for “downplay”

轻描淡写
qīng miáo dàn xiě
Traditional: 輕描淡寫
(idiom) to treat sth as no big deal; to downplay; to understate

The closest CC-CEDICT match for downplay is 轻描淡写 (qīng miáo dàn xiě), defined as: (idiom) to treat sth as no big deal; to downplay; to understate.

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

轻 qīng
light, gentle; simple, easy
radical 159 ⾞ · 9 strokes
描 miáo
to copy, to depict, to sketch, to trace
radical 64 ⼿ · 11 strokes
淡 dàn
watery, dilute; insipid, tasteless
radical 85 ⽔ · 11 strokes
写 xiě
to write; to draw, to sketch; to compose
radical 14 ⼍ · 5 strokes

Traditional forms

Other Chinese words for “downplay”

WordPinyinMeaning
矮化ǎi huà(plant pathology) to become stunted; (horticulture) to dwarf; to reduce in size (by pruning, breeding etc)
冷处理 (冷處理)lěng chǔ lǐ(mechanics) cold treatment; to downplay; to handle in a low-key way

Related words

Other words that share a character with 轻描淡写.

WordPinyinMeaning
年轻 (年輕)nián qīngyoung
年轻人 (年輕人)nián qīng rényoung people; youngster
轻松 (輕鬆)qīng sōnglight; gentle
轻易 (輕易)qīng yìeasy; simple; rashly; offhandedly
减轻 (減輕)jiǎn qīngto lighten; to ease
轻轻 (輕輕)qīng qīnglightly; softly
描述miáo shùto describe; description
描写 (描寫)miáo xiěto describe; to depict; to portray; depiction; portrayal
淡水dàn shuǐfreshwater
写作 (寫作)xiě zuòto write; to compose

See also: Japanese symbol for “downplay”.

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.

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