Chinese symbol for “oyster”
牡蛎
mǔ lì
Traditional: 牡蠣
oyster
The closest CC-CEDICT match for oyster is 牡蛎 (mǔ lì), defined as: oyster.
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 “oyster”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 蚝 (蠔) | háo | oyster |
| 蛎 (蠣) | lì | oyster |
| 鲒 (鮚) | jié | oyster |
| 海蛎 (海蠣) | hǎi lì | oyster |
| 海蛎子 (海蠣子) | hǎi lì zi | oyster |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 牡蛎.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 牡丹 | mǔ dan | tree peony (Paeonia suffruticosa) |
| 牡鹿 | mǔ lù | stag; buck |
| 牡牛 | mǔ niú | bull |
| 牡丹皮 | mǔ dan pí | root bark of the peony tree (used in TCM) |
| 牡丹卡 | mǔ dan kǎ | Peony Card (credit card issued by Industrial and Commercial Bank of China) |
| 蛤蛎 (蛤蠣) | gé lì | clam; same as 蛤蜊 (gé lí) |
| 海蛎 (海蠣) | hǎi lì | oyster |
| 海蛎子 (海蠣子) | hǎi lì zi | oyster |
See also: Japanese symbol for “oyster”.
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.