Chinese symbol for “instigate”
怂恿
sǒng yǒng
Traditional: 慫恿
to instigate; to incite; to urge; to encourage
The closest CC-CEDICT match for instigate is 怂恿 (sǒng yǒng), defined as: to instigate; to incite; to urge; to encourage.
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 “instigate”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 教唆 | jiào suō | to instigate; to incite |
| 策反 | cè fǎn | to instigate (rebellion etc); incitement (e.g. to desertion within opposing camp) |
| 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, a fan etc) |
| 偾 (僨) | fèn | to instigate; to ruin |
| 煽动 (煽動) | shān dòng | to incite; to instigate |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 怂恿.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 认怂 (認慫) | rèn sóng | (coll.) to back down; to concede defeat; to lose one's nerve |
See also: Japanese symbol for “instigate”.
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.