King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Chinese symbol for “instead”

反而
fǎn ér
on the contrary; instead

The closest CC-CEDICT match for instead is 反而 (fǎn ér), defined as: on the contrary; instead.

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

反 fǎn
reverse, opposite; contrary, anti-
radical 29 ⼜ · 4 strokes
而 ér
and, and then, and yet; but
radical 126 ⽽ · 6 strokes

Other Chinese words for “instead”

WordPinyinMeaning
反fǎncontrary; in reverse
倒反dào fǎninstead; on the contrary

Related words

Other words that share a character with 反而.

WordPinyinMeaning
反对 (反對)fǎn duìto oppose; to be against; to object to
反应 (反應)fǎn yìngto react; to respond
反映fǎn yìngto mirror; to reflect
违反 (違反)wéi fǎnto violate (a law)
相反xiāng fǎnopposite; contrary
而且ér qiě(not only ...) but also; moreover; in addition; furthermore
然而rán érhowever; but; yet
而是ér shìrather

See also: Japanese symbol for “instead”.

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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