Chinese symbol for “emaciated”
骨瘦如柴
gǔ shòu rú chái
(idiom) as thin as a match; emaciated
The closest CC-CEDICT match for emaciated is 骨瘦如柴 (gǔ shòu rú chái), defined as: (idiom) as thin as a match; emaciated.
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 “emaciated”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 瘦骨嶙峋 | shòu gǔ lín xún | skinny; emaciated (idiom) |
| 瘦伶仃 | shòu líng dīng | emaciated; scrawny |
| 瘦骨伶仃 | shòu gǔ líng dīng | (idiom) emaciated; scrawny |
| 癯 | qú | thin; emaciated |
| 骨立 | gǔ lì | (literary) emaciated; bony |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 骨瘦如柴.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 骨头 (骨頭) | gǔ tou | bone; measure word: 根 (gēn), 块 (kuài) |
| 骨干 (骨幹) | gǔ gàn | diaphysis (long segment of a bone); fig. backbone |
| 骨折 | gǔ zhé | to suffer a fracture; (of a bone) to break |
| 骨骼 | gǔ gé | bones; skeleton |
| 头骨 (頭骨) | tóu gǔ | skull |
| 骨灰 | gǔ huī | bone ash; cremation ashes; cremains |
| 瘦身 | shòu shēn | to lose weight (intentionally); to slim down; (fig.) to downsize (a business, project etc) |
| 瘦肉精 | shòu ròu jīng | leanness-enhancing agent (for livestock) |
| 如果 | rú guǒ | if; in case; in the event that |
| 柴油机 (柴油機) | chái yóu jī | diesel engine |
See also: Japanese symbol for “emaciated”.
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.