King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Chinese symbol for “milling”

研磨
yán mó
milling; to grind; to polish by grinding; to abrade

The closest CC-CEDICT match for milling is 研磨 (yán mó), defined as: milling; to grind; to polish by grinding; to abrade; whetstone; pestle.

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

研 yán
to grind, to rub; to study, to research
radical 112 ⽯ · 9 strokes
磨 mó
millstone; to grind, to polish, to rub, to wear out
radical 112 ⽯ · 16 strokes

Other Chinese words for “milling”

WordPinyinMeaning
铣工 (銑工)xǐ gōngmilling (machining); milling machine operator

Related words

Other words that share a character with 研磨.

WordPinyinMeaning
研究yán jiūresearch; a study
研发 (研發)yán fāresearch and development; to develop
研究所yán jiū suǒresearch institute; graduate studies
研究生yán jiū shēnggraduate student; postgraduate student
科研kē yán(scientific) research
研制 (研製)yán zhìto research and manufacture; to research and to develop
折磨zhé móto torment; to torture
琢磨zhuó móto carve and polish (jade); to polish and refine a literary work

See also: Japanese symbol for “milling”.

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.

Last posts

  1. Best Bokken Bags and Cases for Martial Arts Training
  2. Choosing the Best Wooden Tanto for Realistic Knife Drills
  3. What Is a Suburito and Is It Worth Buying for Strength
  4. Buying a Wooden Wakizashi for Two-Sword Practice
  5. Buying Chanbara Swords for Sparring and Competition
  6. What Size Shinai Does a Child Need for Kendo Practice
  7. Best Polypropylene Bokken for Hard Contact Training
  8. Best Foam Swords for Kids Martial Arts and Safe Practice
  9. Are Cold Steel Training Swords Good for Practice
  10. Shinai Maintenance and Essential Tools for Bamboo Care