Chinese symbol for “encourage”
鼓励
gǔ lì
Traditional: 鼓勵
to encourage
The closest CC-CEDICT match for encourage is 鼓励 (gǔ lì), defined as: to encourage.
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 “encourage”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 激励 (激勵) | jī lì | to encourage; to urge |
| 助长 (助長) | zhù zhǎng | to encourage; to foster |
| 励 (勵) | lì | to encourage; to urge |
| 勉励 (勉勵) | miǎn lì | to encourage |
| 钊 (釗) | zhāo | to encourage; to cut |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 鼓励.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 鼓舞 | gǔ wǔ | to inspire; to encourage; to hearten; to boost (morale) |
| 鼓吹 | gǔ chuī | to agitate for; to enthusiastically promote |
| 鼓掌 | gǔ zhǎng | to applaud; to clap |
| 鼓动 (鼓動) | gǔ dòng | to urge (an activity that may be beneficial, harmful or neutral); to encourage; to agitate; to instigate; to incite; to beat; to flap (wings |
| 打鼓 | dǎ gǔ | to beat a drum; to play a drum |
| 奖励 (獎勵) | jiǎng lì | to reward; reward (as encouragement) |
| 激励 (激勵) | jī lì | to encourage; to urge |
| 励志 (勵志) | lì zhì | to pursue a goal with determination; inspirational; motivational |
See also: Japanese symbol for “encourage”.
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.