Chinese symbol for “merely”
只是
zhǐ shì
merely; only; just; nothing but; simply; but; however
The closest CC-CEDICT match for merely is 只是 (zhǐ shì), defined as: merely; only; just; nothing but; simply; but; however.
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 “merely”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 只 | zhǐ | only; merely; just |
| 但 | dàn | but; yet; however; still; merely; only; just |
| 只不过 (只不過) | zhǐ bu guò | only; merely; nothing but; no more than; it's just that ... |
| 不过 (不過) | bù guò | only; merely |
| 仅 (僅) | jǐn | barely; only |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 只是.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 只有 | zhǐ yǒu | only have ...; there is only ...; (used in combination with 才 (cái)) it is only if ... (that one can ...) (as in 只有通过治疗才能痊愈 (zhǐ yǒu tōng gu |
| 只要 | zhǐ yào | so long as; provided; if |
| 只能 | zhǐ néng | can only; obliged to do sth |
| 只不过 (只不過) | zhǐ bu guò | only; merely; nothing but; no more than; it's just that ... |
| 只好 | zhǐ hǎo | to have no other option but to ...; to have to; to be forced to |
| 不是 | bù shì | no; is not |
| 就是 | jiù shì | exactly; precisely; only; simply; just |
| 但是 | dàn shì | but; however |
See also: Japanese symbol for “merely”.
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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