King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Chinese symbol for “intellectual”

知识分子
zhī shi fèn zǐ
Traditional: 知識分子
intellectual; intelligentsia

The closest CC-CEDICT match for intellectual is 知识分子 (zhī shi fèn zǐ), defined as: intellectual; intelligentsia.

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

知 zhī
to know, to perceive, to comprehend
radical 111 ⽮ · 8 strokes
识 shi
knowledge; to understand, to recognize, to know
radical 149 ⾔ · 7 strokes
分 fèn
to divide, to allocate; fraction; small unit of time or other quantity
radical 18 ⼑ · 4 strokes
子 zǐ
son, child; seed, egg; fruit; small thing
radical 39 ⼦ · 3 strokes

Traditional forms

Other Chinese words for “intellectual”

WordPinyinMeaning
知识 (知識)zhī shiknowledge; 门 (mén)
读书人 (讀書人)dú shū rénscholar; intellectual
斯文sī wénrefined; educate
书生 (書生)shū shēngscholar; intellectual
智识 (智識)zhì shíknowledge; learning; (attributive) intellectual

Related words

Other words that share a character with 知识分子.

WordPinyinMeaning
知道zhī dàoto know; to become aware of; also pr. [zhi1dao5]
知识 (知識)zhī shiknowledge; 门 (mén)
通知tōng zhīto notify; to inform
不知bù zhīnot to know; unaware
知名zhī míngwell-known; famous
得知dé zhīto find out; to learn of
认识 (認識)rèn shito know; to recognize
意识 (意識)yì shíconsciousness; awareness; (usu. followed by 到 (dào)) to be aware of; to realize
部分bù fenpart; portion; piece; Taiwan pr. [bu4fen4]
孩子hái zichild

See also: Japanese symbol for “intellectual”.

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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