Chinese symbol for “govern”
治理
zhì lǐ
to govern; to administer; to manage; to control
The closest CC-CEDICT match for govern is 治理 (zhì lǐ), defined as: to govern; to administer; to manage; to control; governance.
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 “govern”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 统辖 (統轄) | tǒng xiá | to govern; to have complete control over |
| 统治 (統治) | tǒng zhì | to rule (a country); to govern |
| 衡平 | héng píng | to govern; to administer |
| 辖 (轄) | xiá | linchpin (pin securing a wheel to an axle); (bound form) to govern; to have jurisdiction over |
| 治 | zhì | to rule; to govern |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 治理.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 政治 | zhèng zhì | politics; political |
| 治疗 (治療) | zhì liáo | to treat (an illness); medical treatment |
| 统治 (統治) | tǒng zhì | to rule (a country); to govern |
| 自治区 (自治區) | zì zhì qū | autonomous region – a provincial-level administrative division of China with self-governance for ethnic minorities (five in total: Guangxi, |
| 自治 | zì zhì | autonomy |
| 管理 | guǎn lǐ | to supervise; to manage |
| 处理 (處理) | chǔ lǐ | to handle; to deal with; to punish |
| 理论 (理論) | lǐ lùn | theory; 个 (gè) |
See also: Japanese symbol for “govern”.
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.