Chinese symbol for “helpless”
无助
wú zhù
Traditional: 無助
helpless; helplessness; feeling useless; no help
The closest CC-CEDICT match for helpless is 无助 (wú zhù), defined as: helpless; helplessness; feeling useless; no help.
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 “helpless”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 无措 (無措) | wú cuò | helpless |
| 无奈 (無奈) | wú nài | to have no alternative; frustrated |
| 自身难保 (自身難保) | zì shēn nán bǎo | powerless to defend oneself (idiom); helpless |
| 束手 | shù shǒu | to have one's hands tied; helpless |
| 无援 (無援) | wú yuán | without support; helpless |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 无助.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 无法 (無法) | wú fǎ | unable to; incapable of |
| 无论 (無論) | wú lùn | no matter what or how; regardless of whether... |
| 毫无 (毫無) | háo wú | not in the least; to completely lack |
| 无限 (無限) | wú xiàn | unlimited; unbounded; infinite |
| 无关 (無關) | wú guān | unrelated; having nothing to do (with sth else) |
| 无数 (無數) | wú shù | countless; numberless |
| 帮助 (幫助) | bāng zhù | assistance; aid; to help; to assist |
| 协助 (協助) | xié zhù | to provide assistance; to aid |
See also: Japanese symbol for “helpless”.
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.