Chinese symbol for “history”
历史
lì shǐ
Traditional: 歷史
history; 门 (mén),段 (duàn)
The closest CC-CEDICT match for history is 历史 (lì shǐ), defined as: history; 门 (mén),段 (duàn).
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 “history”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 史 | shǐ | history; annals |
| 来历 (來歷) | lái lì | history; antecedents |
| 历史学 (歷史學) | lì shǐ xué | history |
| 历 (歷) | lì | to experience; to undergo |
| 沿革 | yán gé | evolution of sth over time; course of development |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 历史.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 经历 (經歷) | jīng lì | to experience; to go through; experience (CL:段 (duàn),次 (cì)) |
| 学历 (學歷) | xué lì | educational background; academic qualifications |
| 简历 (簡歷) | jiǎn lì | curriculum vitae (CV); résumé |
| 历程 (歷程) | lì chéng | course; process |
| 历任 (歷任) | lì rèn | (of one person) to hold the successive posts of; (of several persons) the successive (presidents etc) |
| 史上 | shǐ shàng | in history |
| 史料 | shǐ liào | historical material or data |
| 历史性 (歷史性) | lì shǐ xìng | historic |
See also: Japanese symbol for “history”.
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.