Chinese symbol for “ineffectual”
面
miàn
Traditional: 麵
flour; noodles; (of food) soft (not crunchy); (slang) (of a person) ineffectual
The closest CC-CEDICT match for ineffectual is 面 (miàn), defined as: flour; noodles; (of food) soft (not crunchy); (slang) (of a person) ineffectual; spineless.
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 “ineffectual”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 隔靴搔痒 (隔靴搔癢) | gé xuē sāo yǎng | lit. to scratch the outside of the boot (idiom); fig. beside the point |
| 无牙 (無牙) | wú yá | toothless; (fig.) powerless |
| 含含糊糊 | hán hán hú hú | (of speech) obscure; unclear |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 面.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 方面 | fāng miàn | respect; aspect |
| 里面 (裏面) | lǐ miàn | variant of 里面 (lǐ miàn) |
| 面积 (面積) | miàn jī | area (of a floor, piece of land etc); surface area |
| 全面 | quán miàn | all-around; comprehensive |
| 面对 (面對) | miàn duì | to face; to confront |
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.