Chinese symbol for “heel”
跟
gēn
heel; to follow closely; to go with; (of a woman) to marry sb
The closest CC-CEDICT match for heel is 跟 (gēn), defined as: heel; to follow closely; to go with; (of a woman) to marry sb; with; compared with.
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 “heel”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 脚跟 (腳跟) | jiǎo gēn | heel |
| 脚后跟 (腳後跟) | jiǎo hòu gēn | heel |
| 鞋跟 | xié gēn | heel (of a shoe) |
| 后跟 (後跟) | hòu gēn | heel (part of a foot); heel (of a sock) |
| 踵 | zhǒng | to arrive; to follow |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 跟.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 跟着 (跟著) | gēn zhe | to follow after; immediately afterwards |
| 跟踪 (跟蹤) | gēn zōng | to follow sb's tracks; to tail |
| 跟随 (跟隨) | gēn suí | to follow |
| 跟进 (跟進) | gēn jìn | to follow; to follow up |
| 跟上 | gēn shàng | to catch up with; to keep pace with |
| 高跟鞋 | gāo gēn xié | high-heeled shoes |
See also: Japanese symbol for “heel”.
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.