King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

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

骨 gǔ
bone; skeleton; frame, framework
radical 188 ⾻ · 10 strokes
瘦 shòu
thin, lean, emaciated; meager
radical 104 ⽧ · 15 strokes
如 rú
as, as if, like, such as, supposing
radical 38 ⼥ · 6 strokes
柴 chái
firewood, faggots, fuel; surname
radical 75 ⽊ · 10 strokes

Other Chinese words for “emaciated”

WordPinyinMeaning
瘦骨嶙峋shòu gǔ lín xúnskinny; emaciated (idiom)
瘦伶仃shòu líng dīngemaciated; scrawny
瘦骨伶仃shòu gǔ líng dīng(idiom) emaciated; scrawny
癯qúthin; emaciated
骨立gǔ lì(literary) emaciated; bony

Related words

Other words that share a character with 骨瘦如柴.

WordPinyinMeaning
骨头 (骨頭)gǔ toubone; measure word: 根 (gēn), 块 (kuài)
骨干 (骨幹)gǔ gàndiaphysis (long segment of a bone); fig. backbone
骨折gǔ zhéto suffer a fracture; (of a bone) to break
骨骼gǔ gébones; skeleton
头骨 (頭骨)tóu gǔskull
骨灰gǔ huībone ash; cremation ashes; cremains
瘦身shòu shēnto lose weight (intentionally); to slim down; (fig.) to downsize (a business, project etc)
瘦肉精shòu ròu jīngleanness-enhancing agent (for livestock)
如果rú guǒif; in case; in the event that
柴油机 (柴油機)chái yóu jīdiesel 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.

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