Chinese symbol for “indispensable”
必要
bì yào
necessary; essential; indispensable; required
The closest CC-CEDICT match for indispensable is 必要 (bì yào), defined as: necessary; essential; indispensable; required.
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 “indispensable”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 必需 | bì xū | to need; to require |
| 必不可少 | bì bù kě shǎo | absolutely necessary; indispensable |
| 不可少 | bù kě shǎo | indispensable; essential |
| 不可缺少 | bù kě quē shǎo | indispensable |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 必要.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 必须 (必須) | bì xū | must; to have to |
| 必然 | bì rán | inevitable; certain |
| 不必 | bù bì | need not; does not have to |
| 未必 | wèi bì | not necessarily; maybe not |
| 必定 | bì dìng | to be bound to; to be sure to |
| 需要 | xū yào | to need; to want; to demand; to require; needs |
| 主要 | zhǔ yào | main; principal; major; primary |
| 重要 | zhòng yào | important; significant; major |
See also: Japanese symbol for “indispensable”.
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.