King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Chinese symbol for “lead”

领导
lǐng dǎo
Traditional: 領導
lead; leading; to lead; leadership

The closest CC-CEDICT match for lead is 领导 (lǐng dǎo), defined as: lead; leading; to lead; leadership; leader; measure word: 位 (wèi), 个 (gè).

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

领 lǐng
neck, collar; lead, guide
radical 181 ⾴ · 11 strokes
导 dǎo
to direct, to guide, to lead, to conduct
radical 41 ⼨ · 6 strokes

Traditional forms

Other Chinese words for “lead”

WordPinyinMeaning
率shuàito lead; to command
领先 (領先)lǐng xiānto lead; to be in front
率领 (率領)shuài lǐngto lead; to command
铅 (鉛)qiānlead (chemistry)
牵头 (牽頭)qiān tóuto lead (an animal by the head); to take the lead

Related words

Other words that share a character with 领导.

WordPinyinMeaning
领域 (領域)lǐng yùdomain; sphere; field; territory; area
领导人 (領導人)lǐng dǎo rénleader
领袖 (領袖)lǐng xiùleader
占领 (佔領)zhàn lǐngto capture; to seize; to occupy by force
领土 (領土)lǐng tǔterritory
导致 (導致)dǎo zhìto lead to; to create; to cause; to bring about
指导 (指導)zhǐ dǎoto guide; to direct; to instruct; coach; trainer
导演 (導演)dǎo yǎnto direct; director (film etc)

See also: Japanese symbol for “lead”.

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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