Chinese symbol for “means”

办法

bàn fǎ

Traditional: 辦法

way of handling sth; means; measure; (practical) solution to a problem; 条 (tiáo)

The closest CC-CEDICT match for means is 办法 (bàn fǎ), defined as: way of handling sth; means; measure; (practical) solution to a problem; 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

办 bàn

to set up; to manage, to run; to deal with, to handle

radical 19 ⼒ · 4 strokes

法 fǎ

law, rule, statute; method, way; French

radical 85 ⽔ · 8 strokes

Traditional forms

辦 bàn

Other Chinese words for “means”

Word	Pinyin	Meaning
手段	shǒu duàn	method; way; means (of doing sth); skill; ability
途径 (途徑)	tú jìng	way; means; channel
工具	gōng jù	tool; instrument
径 (徑)	jìng	footpath; path; track; (fig.) a way; a means; directly; straight
管道	guǎn dào	tubing; pipeline

Related words

Other words that share a character with 办法.

Word	Pinyin	Meaning
举办 (舉辦)	jǔ bàn	to conduct; to hold (an event)
办公室 (辦公室)	bàn gōng shì	office; business premises
怎么办 (怎麼辦)	zěn me bàn	what's to be done
办理 (辦理)	bàn lǐ	to handle; to transact; to conduct
主办 (主辦)	zhǔ bàn	to organize; to host (a conference or sports event)
无法 (無法)	wú fǎ	unable to; incapable of
法律	fǎ lǜ	law; 条 (tiáo), 套 (tào), 个 (gè)
方法	fāng fǎ	method; way; technique; procedure

See also: Japanese symbol for “means”.

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.