Chinese symbol for “loach”
泥鳅
ní qiu
Traditional: 泥鰍
loach; mud fish; 条 (tiáo)
The closest CC-CEDICT match for loach is 泥鳅 (ní qiu), defined as: loach; mud fish; 条 (tiáo).
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 “loach”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 鳅 (鰍) | qiū | loach (family Cobitidae); used in 鲯鳅 (qí qiū) (mahi-mahi, a fish unrelated to the loaches) |
| 鳛 (鰼) | xí | loach; mudfish |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 泥鳅.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 水泥 | shuǐ ní | cement; measure word: 袋 (dài) |
| 泥土 | ní tǔ | earth; soil; mud; clay |
| 泥沙 | ní shā | silt |
| 草泥马 (草泥馬) | cǎo ní mǎ | see 肏你妈 (cào nǐ mā) (near homophone used to avoid Internet censorship); (Internet slang) fictional alpaca-like animal; by extension, an actu |
| 泥泞 (泥濘) | ní nìng | muddy; mud |
| 泥巴 | ní ba | (coll.) mud |
| 鱼鳅 (魚鰍) | yú qiu | (dialect) see 泥鳅 (ní qiu) |
| 鲯鳅 (鯕鰍) | qí qiū | mahi-mahi; dorado (Coryphaena hippurus) |
See also: Japanese symbol for “loach”.
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.