Chinese symbol for “errand”

差事

chāi shi

errand; assignment; job; commission

The closest CC-CEDICT match for errand is 差事 (chāi shi), defined as: errand; assignment; job; commission; measure word: 件 (jiàn); see also 差使 (chāi shi).

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

差 chāi

difference, gap; almost, nearly; in error; an officer

radical 48 ⼯ · 10 strokes

事 shi

affair, matter, business; to serve; accident, incident

radical 6 ⼅ · 8 strokes

Related words

Other words that share a character with 差事.

Word	Pinyin	Meaning
差异 (差異)	chā yì	difference; discrepancy
差不多	chà bu duō	almost; nearly
差别 (差別)	chā bié	difference; distinction; disparity
差距	chā jù	disparity; gap
差点 (差點)	chà diǎn	almost; nearly
相差	xiāng chà	to differ
事件	shì jiàn	incident; event
事情	shì qing	affair; matter; thing; business; measure word: 件 (jiàn), 桩 (zhuāng)

See also: Japanese symbol for “errand”.

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.