Chinese symbol for “dubious”
不三不四
bù sān bù sì
(idiom) dubious; shady; neither one thing nor the other; neither fish nor fowl; nondescript
The closest CC-CEDICT match for dubious is 不三不四 (bù sān bù sì), defined as: (idiom) dubious; shady; neither one thing nor the other; neither fish nor fowl; nondescript.
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
Other Chinese words for “dubious”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 不明不白 | bù míng bù bái | (idiom) obscure; dubious; shady |
| 可疑 | kě yí | suspicious; dubious |
| 暧昧 (曖昧) | ài mèi | vague; ambiguous |
| 暧 (曖) | ài | (of daylight) dim; obscure |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 不三不四.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 不是 | bù shì | no; is not |
| 不能 | bù néng | cannot; must not |
| 不会 (不會) | bù huì | improbable; unlikely |
| 不过 (不過) | bù guò | only; merely |
| 不同 | bù tóng | different; distinct |
| 三星 | sān xīng | three major stars of the Three Stars 参宿 (Shēn xiù) Chinese constellation; the belt of Orion |
| 三次 | sān cì | third; three times |
| 三级 (三級) | sān jí | grade 3; third class |
| 四大 | sì dà | the four elements: earth, water, fire, and wind (Buddhism); the four freedoms: speaking out freely, airing views fully, holding great debate |
See also: Japanese symbol for “dubious”.
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.