Chinese symbol for “needed”

用得上

yòng de shàng

needed; to come in useful

The closest CC-CEDICT match for needed is 用得上 (yòng de shàng), defined as: needed; to come in useful.

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

用 yòng

to use, to employ, to apply; use

radical 101 ⽤ · 5 strokes

得 de

to obtain, to get, to acquire; suitable, proper; ready

radical 60 ⼻ · 11 strokes

上 shàng

above, on top, superior; to go up; to attend; previous

radical 1 ⼀ · 3 strokes

Related words

Other words that share a character with 用得上.

Word	Pinyin	Meaning
使用	shǐ yòng	to use; to employ
利用	lì yòng	to exploit; to make use of
用户 (用戶)	yòng hù	user; consumer
采用 (採用)	cǎi yòng	to adopt; to employ
应用 (應用)	yìng yòng	to put to use; to apply; practical; applied (science, linguistics etc)
作用	zuò yòng	to act on; to affect; action; function; activity
觉得 (覺得)	jué de	to think that ...; to feel that ...; to feel (uncomfortable etc)
获得 (獲得)	huò dé	to obtain; to receive; to get
以上	yǐ shàng	that level or higher; that amount or more; the above-mentioned

See also: Japanese symbol for “needed”.

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.