Chinese symbol for “future”
未来
wèi lái
Traditional: 未來
future; tomorrow; 个 (gè); approaching
The closest CC-CEDICT match for future is 未来 (wèi lái), defined as: future; tomorrow; 个 (gè); approaching; coming; pending.
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 “future”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 前 | qián | front; forward |
| 将来 (將來) | jiāng lái | in the future; future |
| 后任 (後任) | hòu rèn | successor; to take up a position subsequently as ... |
| 后头 (後頭) | hòu tou | behind; the back |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 未来.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 尚未 | shàng wèi | not yet; still not |
| 从未 (從未) | cóng wèi | never |
| 并未 (並未) | bìng wèi | (used to stress that sth did not turn out as one might have expected) did not actually ...; has not actually ... |
| 未能 | wèi néng | cannot; to fail to |
| 未经 (未經) | wèi jīng | not having undergone; without (having gone though a certain process) |
| 起来 (起來) | qǐ lai | to stand up; to get up; also pr. [qi3lai2] |
| 出来 (出來) | chū lái | to come out; to appear |
| 来自 (來自) | lái zì | to come from (a place); From: (in email header) |
See also: Japanese symbol for “future”.
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.