Chinese symbol for “grimace”
龇牙咧嘴
zī yá liě zuǐ
Traditional: 齜牙咧嘴
(idiom) to make a pained or menacing facial expression; to grimace; to snarl
The closest CC-CEDICT match for grimace is 龇牙咧嘴 (zī yá liě zuǐ), defined as: (idiom) to make a pained or menacing facial expression; to grimace; to snarl.
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 “grimace”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 鬼脸 (鬼臉) | guǐ liǎn | wry face; to grimace |
| 做鬼脸 (做鬼臉) | zuò guǐ liǎn | to pull a face; to grimace |
| 怪相 | guài xiàng | grotesque visage; grimace |
| 怪样 (怪樣) | guài yàng | odd expression; funny looks |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 龇牙咧嘴.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 龇牙 (齜牙) | zī yá | to bare one's teeth |
| 龇牙裂嘴 (齜牙裂嘴) | zī yá liè zuǐ | see 龇牙咧嘴 (zī yá liě zuǐ) |
| 牙齿 (牙齒) | yá chǐ | tooth; dental |
| 牙膏 | yá gāo | toothpaste; measure word: 管 (guǎn) |
| 象牙 | xiàng yá | ivory; elephant tusk |
| 牙医 (牙醫) | yá yī | dentist |
| 刷牙 | shuā yá | to brush one's teeth |
| 牙科 | yá kē | dentistry |
| 咧嘴 | liě zuǐ | to draw back the corners of one's mouth (as when smiling, grimacing, or snarling) |
| 嘴里 (嘴裡) | zuǐ lǐ | mouth; in the mouth |
See also: Japanese symbol for “grimace”.
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.