Chinese symbol for “germinate”
萌芽
méng yá
(of a seed) to germinate; (of a plant) to sprout; to bud; sprout; bud; (also used figuratively)
The closest CC-CEDICT match for germinate is 萌芽 (méng yá), defined as: (of a seed) to germinate; (of a plant) to sprout; to bud; sprout; bud; (also used figuratively).
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 “germinate”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 发芽 (發芽) | fā yá | (of a seed) to germinate; (of a plant) to sprout; to bud |
| 滋芽 | zī yá | (dialect) to sprout; to germinate |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 萌芽.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 萌生 | méng shēng | to burgeon; to produce |
| 萌发 (萌發) | méng fā | to sprout; to shoot |
| 卖萌 (賣萌) | mài méng | (slang) to act cute |
| 萌动 (萌動) | méng dòng | to sprout; (fig.) to emerge |
| 故态复萌 (故態復萌) | gù tài fù méng | to revert to old ways |
| 发芽 (發芽) | fā yá | (of a seed) to germinate; (of a plant) to sprout; to bud |
| 麦芽 (麥芽) | mài yá | malt |
| 豆芽 | dòu yá | bean sprout |
See also: Japanese symbol for “germinate”.
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.