Chinese symbol for “necessary”
必要
bì yào
necessary; essential; indispensable; required
The closest CC-CEDICT match for necessary is 必要 (bì yào), defined as: necessary; essential; indispensable; required.
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 “necessary”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 不可或缺 | bù kě huò quē | necessary; must have |
| 先决 (先決) | xiān jué | prerequisite; necessary |
| 所需 | suǒ xū | necessary (for); required |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 必要.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 必须 (必須) | bì xū | must; to have to |
| 必然 | bì rán | inevitable; certain |
| 不必 | bù bì | need not; does not have to |
| 未必 | wèi bì | not necessarily; maybe not |
| 必定 | bì dìng | to be bound to; to be sure to |
| 需要 | xū yào | to need; to want; to demand; to require; needs |
| 主要 | zhǔ yào | main; principal; major; primary |
| 重要 | zhòng yào | important; significant; major |
See also: Japanese symbol for “necessary”.
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.