Chinese symbol for “hone”
磨刀
mó dāo
to hone (a knife)
The closest CC-CEDICT match for hone is 磨刀 (mó dāo), defined as: to hone (a knife).
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 “hone”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 锤炼 (錘煉) | chuí liàn | to forge (metal); (fig.) to toughen sb up; to hone (one's skills) |
| 砥砺 (砥礪) | dǐ lì | whetstone; (lit. and fig.) to hone; to sharpen |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 磨刀.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 折磨 | zhé mó | to torment; to torture |
| 琢磨 | zhuó mó | to carve and polish (jade); to polish and refine a literary work |
| 磨损 (磨損) | mó sǔn | to suffer wear and tear; to deteriorate through use; to wear out |
| 磨难 (磨難) | mó nàn | a torment; a trial |
| 消磨 | xiāo mó | to wear down; to sap |
| 刀子 | dāo zi | knife; measure word: 把 (bǎ) |
| 剪刀 | jiǎn dāo | scissors; measure word: 把 (bǎ) |
| 刀剑 (刀劍) | dāo jiàn | sword |
See also: Japanese symbol for “hone”.
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.