Chinese symbol for “dumb”
哑
yǎ
Traditional: 啞
mute; dumb; incapable of speech; (of a voice) hoarse; husky; (bound form) (of a bullet, bomb etc) dud
The closest CC-CEDICT match for dumb is 哑 (yǎ), defined as: mute; dumb; incapable of speech; (of a voice) hoarse; husky; (bound form) (of a bullet, bomb etc) dud.
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 “dumb”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 糊糊涂涂 (糊糊塗塗) | hú hu tú tu | confused; muddled |
| 脑子有泡 (腦子有泡) | nǎo zi yǒu pào | soft in the head; brainless |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 哑.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 哑巴 (啞巴) | yǎ ba | a mute; mute; silent |
| 哑口无言 (啞口無言) | yǎ kǒu wú yán | dumbstruck and unable to reply (idiom); left speechless; at a loss for words |
| 装聋作哑 (裝聾作啞) | zhuāng lóng zuò yǎ | to play deaf-mute |
| 嘶哑 (嘶啞) | sī yǎ | (onom.) coarse crowing; hoarse |
| 沙哑 (沙啞) | shā yǎ | hoarse; husky; raspy |
| 聋哑 (聾啞) | lóng yǎ | deaf and nonverbal |
See also: Japanese symbol for “dumb”.
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.