Chinese symbol for “flicker”
闪烁
shǎn shuò
Traditional: 閃爍
to glisten; to glitter; to twinkle; to flicker; to be evasive; to equivocate
The closest CC-CEDICT match for flicker is 闪烁 (shǎn shuò), defined as: to glisten; to glitter; to twinkle; to flicker; to be evasive; to equivocate.
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 “flicker”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 明灭 (明滅) | míng miè | to flicker; to flash on and off |
| 摇曳 (搖曳) | yáo yè | to sway gently (as in the wind); (of a flame) to flicker |
| 忽悠 | hū you | to rock; to sway |
| 闪映 (閃映) | shǎn yìng | to flash before one's eyes; to flicker |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 闪烁.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 闪电 (閃電) | shǎn diàn | lightning; measure word: 道 (dào) |
| 闪亮 (閃亮) | shǎn liàng | brilliant; shiny |
| 闪耀 (閃耀) | shǎn yào | to glint; to glitter |
| 闪光 (閃光) | shǎn guāng | flash |
| 闪闪 (閃閃) | shǎn shǎn | flickering; sparkling; glistening; glittering |
| 闪烁其词 (閃爍其詞) | shǎn shuò qí cí | to speak evasively (idiom); beating about the bush |
| 震古烁今 (震古爍今) | zhèn gǔ shuò jīn | (lit.) to astonish the ancients and dazzle contemporaries (idiom); (fig.) to be earthshaking |
| 熠烁 (熠爍) | yì shuò | to twinkle; to glimmer |
See also: Japanese symbol for “flicker”.
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.