Chinese symbol for “novice”
小白
xiǎo bái
(slang) novice; greenhorn; (old) (slang) fool; idiot; abbr. for 小白脸 (xiǎo bái liǎn), pretty boy
The closest CC-CEDICT match for novice is 小白 (xiǎo bái), defined as: (slang) novice; greenhorn; (old) (slang) fool; idiot; abbr. for 小白脸 (xiǎo bái liǎn), pretty boy.
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 “novice”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 生手 | shēng shǒu | novice; new hand |
| 新手 | xīn shǒu | new hand; novice |
| 外教 | wài jiào | foreign teacher (abbr. for 外國教師|外国教师); greenhorn |
| 初出茅庐 (初出茅廬) | chū chū máo lú | venturing from one's thatched hut for the first time (idiom); young and inexperienced |
| 新丁 | xīn dīng | new addition to a family (i.e. a birth); a boy who has just come of age |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 小白.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 小时 (小時) | xiǎo shí | hour |
| 小说 (小說) | xiǎo shuō | novel; fiction |
| 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) |
| 明白 | míng bai | clear; obvious; unequivocal; sensible; reasonable |
| 白色 | bái sè | white; fig. reactionary |
See also: Japanese symbol for “novice”.
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.