Chinese symbol for “origin”
起源
qǐ yuán
origin; to originate; to come from
The closest CC-CEDICT match for origin is 起源 (qǐ yuán), defined as: origin; to originate; to come from.
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 “origin”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 根源 | gēn yuán | origin; root (cause) |
| 渊源 (淵源) | yuān yuán | origin; source |
| 本源 | běn yuán | origin; source |
| 本 | běn | (bound form) root; stem; (bound form) origin; source |
| 原因 | yuán yīn | cause; origin |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 起源.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 起来 (起來) | qǐ lai | to stand up; to get up; also pr. [qi3lai2] |
| 一起 | yī qǐ | (in) the same place; together; in company (with) |
| 引起 | yǐn qǐ | to give rise to; to lead to; to cause; to arouse |
| 看起来 (看起來) | kàn qǐ lai | seemingly; apparently; looks as if; appears to be; gives the impression that; seems on the face of it to be |
| 想起 | xiǎng qǐ | to recall; to think of |
| 资源 (資源) | zī yuán | natural resource (such as water or minerals); resource (such as manpower or tourism) |
| 来源 (來源) | lái yuán | source (of information etc); origin |
| 能源 | néng yuán | energy sources; energy |
See also: Japanese symbol for “origin”.
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.