Chinese symbol for “motivation”
动机
dòng jī
Traditional: 動機
motive; motivation
The closest CC-CEDICT match for motivation is 动机 (dòng jī), defined as: motive; motivation.
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 “motivation”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 动因 (動因) | dòng yīn | motivation; moving force |
| 动力 (動力) | dòng lì | motive power; (fig.) motivation; impetus |
| 激励 (激勵) | jī lì | to encourage; to urge |
| 启发 (啟發) | qǐ fā | to enlighten; to explain (a text etc) |
| 理据 (理據) | lǐ jù | grounds; justification |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 动机.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 活动 (活動) | huó dòng | to exercise; to move about; to work out; shaky; unsteady; loose (tooth etc) |
| 运动 (運動) | yùn dòng | to move; to exercise |
| 行动 (行動) | xíng dòng | operation; action |
| 动物 (動物) | dòng wù | animal |
| 推动 (推動) | tuī dòng | to push (e.g. for acceptance of a plan); to promote; to give impetus to |
| 劳动 (勞動) | láo dòng | work; toil |
| 机构 (機構) | jī gòu | mechanism; structure |
| 机会 (機會) | jī huì | opportunity; chance |
See also: Japanese symbol for “motivation”.
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.