Chinese symbol for “orphan”
孤儿
gū ér
Traditional: 孤兒
orphan
The closest CC-CEDICT match for orphan is 孤儿 (gū ér), defined as: orphan.
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 “orphan”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 遗孤 (遺孤) | yí gū | orphan |
| 孤子 | gū zǐ | orphan; fatherless son |
| 遗男 (遺男) | yí nán | orphan; posthumous son |
| 孤哀子 | gū āi zǐ | (literary) orphan |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 孤儿.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 孤独 (孤獨) | gū dú | lonely; solitary |
| 孤立 | gū lì | to isolate; isolated |
| 孤单 (孤單) | gū dān | lone; lonely |
| 孤儿院 (孤兒院) | gū ér yuàn | orphanage; child asylum |
| 孤岛 (孤島) | gū dǎo | isolated island |
| 儿子 (兒子) | ér zi | son |
| 女儿 (女兒) | nǚ ér | daughter |
| 儿童 (兒童) | ér tóng | child |
See also: Japanese symbol for “orphan”.
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.