Chinese symbol for “middle”
中间
zhōng jiān
Traditional: 中間
the middle; the inside; in the middle; within; between; among; during; in the meantime
The closest CC-CEDICT match for middle is 中间 (zhōng jiān), defined as: the middle; the inside; in the middle; within; between; among; during; in the meantime.
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
中 zhōng
central; center, middle; amidst; to hit (target), to attain; China; Ch
radical 2 ⼁ · 4 strokes
Traditional forms
Other Chinese words for “middle”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 中期 | zhōng qī | middle (of a period of time); medium-term (plan, forecast etc) |
| 中 | zhōng | within; among; in; middle; center |
| 正中 | zhèng zhōng | middle; center |
| 中央 | zhōng yāng | central; middle |
| 半腰 | bàn yāo | middle; halfway |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 中间.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 其中 | qí zhōng | among; in |
| 中心 | zhōng xīn | center; heart; core |
| 中央 | zhōng yāng | central; middle |
| 中学 (中學) | zhōng xué | middle school |
| 之中 | zhī zhōng | inside; among |
| 集中 | jí zhōng | to concentrate; to centralize |
| 时间 (時間) | shí jiān | (concept of) time; (duration of) time |
| 之间 (之間) | zhī jiān | (after a noun) between; among; amid; (used after certain bisyllabic words to form expressions indicating a short period of time, e.g. 弹指之间 ( |
See also: Japanese symbol for “middle”.
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.