Chinese symbol for “penniless”
一贫如洗
yī pín rú xǐ
Traditional: 一貧如洗
(idiom) penniless; destitute
The closest CC-CEDICT match for penniless is 一贫如洗 (yī pín rú xǐ), defined as: (idiom) penniless; destitute.
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 “penniless”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 身无分文 (身無分文) | shēn wú fēn wén | (idiom) penniless; completely broke |
| 囊空如洗 | náng kōng rú xǐ | (idiom) penniless; broke |
| 光光 | guāng guāng | bright; shiny |
| 不名一文 | bù míng yī wén | without a penny to one's name; penniless |
| 家贫如洗 (家貧如洗) | jiā pín rú xǐ | extreme poverty (idiom); destitute; penniless |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 一贫如洗.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 一个 (一個) | yī ge | a; an; one; the whole (afternoon, summer vacation etc) |
| 一些 | yī xiē | some; a few; a little; (following an adjective) slightly ...er |
| 一样 (一樣) | yī yàng | same; like |
| 一定 | yī dìng | surely; certainly; definitely; fixed; settled |
| 一起 | yī qǐ | (in) the same place; together; in company (with) |
| 一直 | yī zhí | straight (in a straight line); continuously; always; all the way through |
| 贫困 (貧困) | pín kùn | impoverished; poverty |
| 贫穷 (貧窮) | pín qióng | poor; impoverished |
| 如果 | rú guǒ | if; in case; in the event that |
| 清洗 | qīng xǐ | to wash; to rinse; to clean; (fig.) to purge; to get rid of (corrupt individuals etc) |
See also: Japanese symbol for “penniless”.
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.