Chinese symbol for “inspire”
鼓舞
gǔ wǔ
to inspire; to encourage; to hearten; to boost (morale)
The closest CC-CEDICT match for inspire is 鼓舞 (gǔ wǔ), defined as: to inspire; to encourage; to hearten; to boost (morale).
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 “inspire”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 授意 | shòu yì | to inspire; to incite |
| 振奋 (振奮) | zhèn fèn | to stir oneself up; to raise one's spirits |
| 感召 | gǎn zhào | to move and appeal; to rally to a cause |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 鼓舞.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 鼓励 (鼓勵) | gǔ lì | to encourage |
| 鼓吹 | gǔ chuī | to agitate for; to enthusiastically promote |
| 鼓掌 | gǔ zhǎng | to applaud; to clap |
| 鼓动 (鼓動) | gǔ dòng | to urge (an activity that may be beneficial, harmful or neutral); to encourage; to agitate; to instigate; to incite; to beat; to flap (wings |
| 打鼓 | dǎ gǔ | to beat a drum; to play a drum |
| 舞台 (舞臺) | wǔ tái | (lit. and fig.) stage; arena |
| 舞蹈 | wǔ dǎo | dance (performance art); dancing |
| 跳舞 | tiào wǔ | to dance |
See also: Japanese symbol for “inspire”.
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.