Chinese symbol for “imperative”
势在必行
shì zài bì xíng
Traditional: 勢在必行
circumstances require action (idiom); absolutely necessary; imperative
The closest CC-CEDICT match for imperative is 势在必行 (shì zài bì xíng), defined as: circumstances require action (idiom); absolutely necessary; imperative.
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 “imperative”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 急迫 | jí pò | urgent; pressing |
| 眉睫 | méi jié | eyebrows and eyelashes; (fig.) close at hand; urgent; pressing; imperative |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 势在必行.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 优势 (優勢) | yōu shì | superiority; dominance |
| 势力 (勢力) | shì li | power; influence |
| 趋势 (趨勢) | qū shì | trend; tendency |
| 形势 (形勢) | xíng shì | circumstances; situation |
| 局势 (局勢) | jú shì | situation; state (of affairs) |
| 姿势 (姿勢) | zī shì | posture; position |
| 现在 (現在) | xiàn zài | now; at present; currently |
| 存在 | cún zài | to exist; to be |
| 必须 (必須) | bì xū | must; to have to |
| 进行 (進行) | jìn xíng | (of a process etc) to proceed; to be in progress; to be underway; (of people) to carry out; to conduct (an investigation or discussion etc) |
See also: Japanese symbol for “imperative”.
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.