Chinese symbol for “perfunctory”
苟且
gǒu qiě
perfunctory; careless; drifting along; resigned to one's fate
The closest CC-CEDICT match for perfunctory is 苟且 (gǒu qiě), defined as: perfunctory; careless; drifting along; resigned to one's fate; improper (relations); illicit (sex).
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 “perfunctory”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 含糊 | hán hu | ambiguous; vague |
| 敷衍 | fū yǎn | to elaborate (on a theme); to expound (the classics) |
| 不痛不痒 (不痛不癢) | bù tòng bù yǎng | lit. doesn't hurt, doesn't tickle (idiom); sth is wrong, but not quite sure what; fig. not getting to any matter of substance |
| 有一搭没一搭 (有一搭沒一搭) | yǒu yī dā méi yī dā | unimportant; perfunctory |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 苟且.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 苟延残喘 (苟延殘喘) | gǒu yán cán chuǎn | (idiom) to struggle on whilst at death's door |
| 一丝不苟 (一絲不苟) | yī sī bù gǒu | not one thread loose (idiom); strictly according to the rules; meticulous |
| 苟同 | gǒu tóng | to agree blindly |
| 苟活 | gǒu huó | to live without dignity; to barely sustain oneself |
| 苟且偷生 | gǒu qiě tōu shēng | to drift and live without purpose (idiom); to drag out an ignoble existence |
| 而且 | ér qiě | (not only ...) but also; moreover; in addition; furthermore |
| 并且 (並且) | bìng qiě | and; besides; moreover; furthermore; in addition |
| 况且 (況且) | kuàng qiě | moreover; besides |
See also: Japanese symbol for “perfunctory”.
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.