King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Chinese symbol for “instinct”

本能
běn néng
instinct

The closest CC-CEDICT match for instinct is 本能 (běn néng), defined as: instinct.

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

本 běn
root, origin, source; basis
radical 75 ⽊ · 5 strokes
能 néng
can, may; capable, full of energy
radical 130 ⾁ · 10 strokes

Related words

Other words that share a character with 本能.

WordPinyinMeaning
根本gēn běnfundamental; basic
基本jī běnbasic; fundamental
版本bǎn běnversion; edition
资本 (資本)zī běncapital (economics)
本来 (本來)běn láioriginal; originally
本身běn shēnitself; in itself
可能kě néngmight (happen); possible
不能bù néngcannot; must not

See also: Japanese symbol for “instinct”.

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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