Chinese symbol for “miserable”
惨
cǎn
Traditional: 慘
miserable; wretched; cruel; inhuman
The closest CC-CEDICT match for miserable is 惨 (cǎn), defined as: miserable; wretched; cruel; inhuman; disastrous; tragic.
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 “miserable”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 悲惨 (悲慘) | bēi cǎn | miserable; tragic |
| 可怜兮兮 (可憐兮兮) | kě lián xī xī | miserable; wretched |
| 凄凉 (悽涼) | qī liáng | mournful; miserable |
| 悲苦 | bēi kǔ | forlorn; miserable |
| 凄苦 (悽苦) | qī kǔ | bleak; miserable |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 惨.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 悲惨 (悲慘) | bēi cǎn | miserable; tragic |
| 惨案 (慘案) | cǎn àn | massacre; tragedy |
| 惨重 (慘重) | cǎn zhòng | disastrous |
| 惨遭 (慘遭) | cǎn zāo | to suffer (defeat, death etc) |
| 惨败 (慘敗) | cǎn bài | to suffer a crushing defeat |
| 惨烈 (慘烈) | cǎn liè | bitter; desperate |
See also: Japanese symbol for “miserable”.
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.