King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Chinese symbol for “initiative”

主动权
zhǔ dòng quán
Traditional: 主動權
initiative (as in "seize the initiative"); advantageous position that allows one to call the shots

The closest CC-CEDICT match for initiative is 主动权 (zhǔ dòng quán), defined as: initiative (as in "seize the initiative"); advantageous position that allows one to call the shots.

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

主 zhǔ
to own; to host; master; host; lord
radical 3 ⼂ · 5 strokes
动 dòng
to move, to happen; movement, action
radical 19 ⼒ · 6 strokes
权 quán
authority, power, right
radical 75 ⽊ · 6 strokes

Traditional forms

Other Chinese words for “initiative”

WordPinyinMeaning
能动性 (能動性)néng dòng xìnginitiative; active role
倡议 (倡議)chàng yìto suggest; to initiate
积极性 (積極性)jī jí xìngzeal; initiative
进取心 (進取心)jìn qǔ xīnenterprising spirit; initiative

Related words

Other words that share a character with 主动权.

WordPinyinMeaning
主要zhǔ yàomain; principal; major; primary
民主mín zhǔdemocracy; democratic
主席zhǔ xíchairperson; premier
主任zhǔ rèndirector; head
主题 (主題)zhǔ títheme; subject
主张 (主張)zhǔ zhāngto advocate; to stand for
活动 (活動)huó dòngto exercise; to move about; to work out; shaky; unsteady; loose (tooth etc)
运动 (運動)yùn dòngto move; to exercise
权利 (權利)quán lìright (i.e. an entitlement to sth); (classical) power and wealth

See also: Japanese symbol for “initiative”.

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.

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