Chinese symbol for “inadequate”
不够
bù gòu
Traditional: 不夠
not enough; insufficient; inadequate
The closest CC-CEDICT match for inadequate is 不够 (bù gòu), defined as: not enough; insufficient; inadequate.
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 “inadequate”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 不足 | bù zú | insufficient; lacking |
| 贫 (貧) | pín | poor; inadequate |
| 不适当 (不適當) | bù shì dàng | inadequate; unfit |
| 欠妥 | qiàn tuǒ | improper; inappropriate |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 不够.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 不是 | bù shì | no; is not |
| 不能 | bù néng | cannot; must not |
| 不会 (不會) | bù huì | improbable; unlikely |
| 不过 (不過) | bù guò | only; merely |
| 不同 | bù tóng | different; distinct |
| 能够 (能夠) | néng gòu | to be capable of; to be able to |
| 足够 (足夠) | zú gòu | enough; sufficient |
| 有够 (有夠) | yǒu gòu | very; extremely |
See also: Japanese symbol for “inadequate”.
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.