Chinese symbol for “hesitate”
犹豫
yóu yù
Traditional: 猶豫
to hesitate
The closest CC-CEDICT match for hesitate is 犹豫 (yóu yù), defined as: to hesitate.
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 “hesitate”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 迟疑 (遲疑) | chí yí | to hesitate |
| 犹疑 (猶疑) | yóu yí | to hesitate |
| 踌躇 (躊躇) | chóu chú | to hesitate; (literary) to pace back and forth |
| 彷徨 | páng huáng | to pace back and forth, not knowing which way to turn; to hesitate; to waver |
| 犯嘀咕 | fàn dí gu | to hesitate; to have second thoughts |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 犹豫.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 犹如 (猶如) | yóu rú | similar to; like |
| 毫不犹豫 (毫不猶豫) | háo bù yóu yù | without the slightest hesitation |
| 犹豫不决 (猶豫不決) | yóu yù bù jué | hesitancy; indecision |
| 记忆犹新 (記憶猶新) | jì yì yóu xīn | to remain fresh in one's memory (idiom) |
| 意犹未尽 (意猶未盡) | yì yóu wèi jìn | to wish to continue sth; to have not fully expressed oneself |
| 不豫 | bù yù | (literary) unhappy; displeased |
| 冘豫 | yóu yù | variant of 犹豫 (yóu yù) |
| 豫告 | yù gào | variant of 预告 (yù gào); to forecast |
See also: Japanese symbol for “hesitate”.
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.