Chinese symbol for “duty”
义务
yì wù
Traditional: 義務
duty; obligation (项 (xiàng)); volunteer (work etc)
The closest CC-CEDICT match for duty is 义务 (yì wù), defined as: duty; obligation (项 (xiàng)); volunteer (work etc).
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 “duty”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 职责 (職責) | zhí zé | duty; responsibility |
| 责 (責) | zé | duty; responsibility |
| 任务 (任務) | rèn wu | mission; assignment; task; duty; role; 项 (xiàng) |
| 责任 (責任) | zé rèn | responsibility; duty; liability |
| 职守 (職守) | zhí shǒu | duty; responsibility |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 义务.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 意义 (意義) | yì yì | sense; meaning |
| 主义 (主義) | zhǔ yì | -ism; ideology |
| 社会主义 (社會主義) | shè huì zhǔ yì | socialism |
| 正义 (正義) | zhèng yì | justice; righteousness; just; righteous |
| 定义 (定義) | dìng yì | definition; to define |
| 名义 (名義) | míng yì | name; titular |
| 服务 (服務) | fú wù | to serve; service |
| 任务 (任務) | rèn wu | mission; assignment; task; duty; role; 项 (xiàng) |
See also: Japanese symbol for “duty”.
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.