Chinese symbol for “novel”
小说
xiǎo shuō
Traditional: 小說
novel; fiction; measure word: 本 (běn), 部 (bù)
The closest CC-CEDICT match for novel is 小说 (xiǎo shuō), defined as: novel; fiction; measure word: 本 (běn), 部 (bù).
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 “novel”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 新奇 | xīn qí | novel; new; exotic |
| 长篇小说 (長篇小說) | cháng piān xiǎo shuō | novel; full-length novel |
| 新鲜 (新鮮) | xīn xiān | fresh (experience, food etc); freshness |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 小说.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 小时 (小時) | xiǎo shí | hour |
| 小学 (小學) | xiǎo xué | elementary school; primary school |
| 小姐 | xiǎo jie | young lady; miss |
| 小组 (小組) | xiǎo zǔ | group |
| 小孩 | xiǎo hái | child; 个 (gè) |
| 说明 (說明) | shuō míng | to explain; to illustrate |
| 说话 (說話) | shuō huà | to speak; to say |
| 听说 (聽說) | tīng shuō | to hear (sth said); one hears (that) |
See also: Japanese symbol for “novel”.
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.