Chinese symbol for “graffiti”
涂鸦
tú yā
Traditional: 塗鴉
graffiti; scrawl; poor calligraphy; to write badly
The closest CC-CEDICT match for graffiti is 涂鸦 (tú yā), defined as: graffiti; scrawl; poor calligraphy; to write badly; to scribble.
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 “graffiti”
Related words
Other words that share a character with 涂鸦.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 糊涂 (糊塗) | hú tu | muddled; silly |
| 涂料 (塗料) | tú liào | paint |
| 涂抹 (塗抹) | tú mǒ | to paint; to smear |
| 一塌糊涂 (一塌糊塗) | yī tā hú tu | muddled and completely collapsing (idiom); in an awful condition; complete shambles |
| 涂层 (塗層) | tú céng | protective layer; coating |
| 鸦片 (鴉片) | yā piàn | (loanword) opium |
| 乌鸦 (烏鴉) | wū yā | crow; raven |
| 鸦雀无声 (鴉雀無聲) | yā què wú shēng | lit. crow and peacock make no sound; absolute silence (idiom); not a single voice can be heard |
See also: Japanese symbol for “graffiti”.
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.