King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Chinese symbol for “friction”

摩擦
mó cā
friction; rubbing; chafing; fig. disharmony

The closest CC-CEDICT match for friction is 摩擦 (mó cā), defined as: friction; rubbing; chafing; fig. disharmony; conflict; also written 磨擦.

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

摩 mó
to scour, to rub, to grind; friction
radical 64 ⼿ · 15 strokes
擦 cā
to clean, to erase, to polish; a brush
radical 64 ⼿ · 17 strokes

Other Chinese words for “friction”

WordPinyinMeaning
摩擦力mó cā lìfriction

Related words

Other words that share a character with 摩擦.

WordPinyinMeaning
按摩àn mómassage; to massage
摩托车 (摩托車)mó tuō chē(loanword) motorbike; motorcycle; 辆 (liàng),部 (bù)
摩托mó tuō(loanword) motor; (loanword) motorbike; motorcycle (abbr. for 摩托车 (mó tuō chē))
摩尔 (摩爾)mó ěrmole (chemistry)
观摩 (觀摩)guān móto observe and emulate; to study (esp. following sb's example)
擦肩而过 (擦肩而過)cā jiān ér guòto brush past; to pass by (sb); (fig.) to miss (an opportunity, a danger etc); to have a brush (with death)
磨擦mó cāvariant of 摩擦 (mó cā)
擦亮cā liàngto polish

See also: Japanese symbol for “friction”.

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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