Chinese symbol for “pencil”
铅笔
qiān bǐ
Traditional: 鉛筆
(lead) pencil; measure word: 支 (zhī), 枝 (zhī), 杆 (gǎn)
The closest CC-CEDICT match for pencil is 铅笔 (qiān bǐ), defined as: (lead) pencil; measure word: 支 (zhī), 枝 (zhī), 杆 (gǎn).
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
Related words
Other words that share a character with 铅笔.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 铅球 (鉛球) | qiān qiú | shot put (athletics event) |
| 铅字 (鉛字) | qiān zì | (printing) type; movable letters |
| 铅矿 (鉛礦) | qiān kuàng | lead ore |
| 方铅矿 (方鉛礦) | fāng qiān kuàng | galena |
| 自动铅笔 (自動鉛筆) | zì dòng qiān bǐ | mechanical pencil; propelling pencil |
| 笔者 (筆者) | bǐ zhě | the author; the writer (usu. refers to oneself) |
| 笔记 (筆記) | bǐ jì | to take down (in writing); notes |
| 笔记本 (筆記本) | bǐ jì běn | notebook (stationery) (CL:本 (běn)); (computing) laptop; notebook (abbr. for 笔记本电脑 (bǐ jì běn diàn nǎo)) |
See also: Japanese symbol for “pencil”.
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.