Chinese symbol for “eavesdrop”
窃听
qiè tīng
Traditional: 竊聽
to eavesdrop; to wiretap
The closest CC-CEDICT match for eavesdrop is 窃听 (qiè tīng), defined as: to eavesdrop; to wiretap.
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 “eavesdrop”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 偷听 (偷聽) | tōu tīng | to eavesdrop; to monitor (secretly) |
| 监听 (監聽) | jiān tīng | to monitor; to listen in; to eavesdrop |
| 侦听 (偵聽) | zhēn tīng | to eavesdrop; to tap (telephone conversations) |
| 听墙根 (聽牆根) | tīng qiáng gēn | to eavesdrop; to listen in secret to sb's conversations |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 窃听.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 盗窃 (盜竊) | dào qiè | to steal |
| 窃取 (竊取) | qiè qǔ | to steal (usu. private information, intellectual property etc) |
| 偷窃 (偷竊) | tōu qiè | to steal; to pilfer |
| 剽窃 (剽竊) | piāo qiè | to plunder; to plagiarize |
| 窃贼 (竊賊) | qiè zéi | thief |
| 听到 (聽到) | tīng dào | to hear |
| 听说 (聽說) | tīng shuō | to hear (sth said); one hears (that) |
| 听见 (聽見) | tīng jiàn | to hear |
See also: Japanese symbol for “eavesdrop”.
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.