Chinese symbol for “failure”
衰竭
shuāi jié
(of an organ or bodily function) failure; to fail; (of resources etc) exhaustion; depletion
The closest CC-CEDICT match for failure is 衰竭 (shuāi jié), defined as: (of an organ or bodily function) failure; to fail; (of resources etc) exhaustion; depletion.
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 “failure”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 失败 (失敗) | shī bài | to be defeated; to lose |
| 故障 | gù zhàng | malfunction; breakdown |
| 挫败 (挫敗) | cuò bài | to thwart; to foil (sb's plans); a setback; a failure; a defeat |
| 跟斗 | gēn dou | somersault; fall; tumble |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 衰竭.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 衰退 | shuāi tuì | to decline; to fall |
| 衰落 | shuāi luò | to fall; to drop |
| 衰败 (衰敗) | shuāi bài | to decline; to wane |
| 衰老 | shuāi lǎo | to age; to deteriorate with age |
| 兴衰 (興衰) | xīng shuāi | prosperity and decline (of a kingdom); rise and fall |
| 竭力 | jié lì | to do one's utmost |
| 枯竭 | kū jié | used up; dried up |
| 竭尽全力 (竭盡全力) | jié jìn quán lì | (idiom) to spare no effort; to do one's utmost |
See also: Japanese symbol for “failure”.
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.