Chinese symbol for “oil”
石油
shí yóu
oil; petroleum
The closest CC-CEDICT match for oil is 石油 (shí yóu), defined as: oil; petroleum.
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 “oil”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 油 | yóu | oil; fat |
| 擦油 | cā yóu | to oil; to anoint |
| 油脂 | yóu zhī | grease; oil |
| 油料 | yóu liào | oilseed; oil |
| 涂油 (塗油) | tú yóu | to grease; to oil |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 石油.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 石头 (石頭) | shí tou | stone; 块 (kuài) |
| 钻石 (鑽石) | zuàn shí | diamond; 颗 (kē) |
| 岩石 | yán shí | (geology) rock |
| 宝石 (寶石) | bǎo shí | precious stone; gem; measure word: 枚 (méi), 颗 (kē) |
| 化石 | huà shí | fossil |
| 加油 | jiā yóu | to add oil; to top up with gas; to refuel; to accelerate; to step on the gas |
| 汽油 | qì yóu | gasoline |
| 原油 | yuán yóu | crude oil |
See also: Japanese symbol for “oil”.
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.