Chinese symbol for “lack”
缺乏
quē fá
to lack; to be short of
The closest CC-CEDICT match for lack is 缺乏 (quē fá), defined as: to lack; to be short of.
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 “lack”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 缺少 | quē shǎo | lack; shortage of |
| 缺失 | quē shī | lack; deficiency; shortcoming; flaw; defect |
| 无 (無) | wú | not to have; no |
| 匮 (匱) | kuì | to lack; lacking |
| 少 | shǎo | few; less |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 缺乏.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 缺少 | quē shǎo | lack; shortage of |
| 缺点 (缺點) | quē diǎn | weak point; fault |
| 缺陷 | quē xiàn | defect; flaw |
| 短缺 | duǎn quē | shortage |
| 缺席 | quē xí | to be absent |
| 不乏 | bù fá | there is no lack of |
| 匮乏 (匱乏) | kuì fá | to be deficient in sth; to be short of sth (supplies, money etc) |
| 贫乏 (貧乏) | pín fá | impoverished; lacking |
See also: Japanese symbol for “lack”.
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.