Chinese symbol for “picky”

挑剔

tiāo ti

picky; fussy

The closest CC-CEDICT match for picky is 挑剔 (tiāo ti), defined as: picky; fussy.

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

挑 tiāo

to select, to choose; picky, choosy; a load

radical 64 ⼿ · 9 strokes

剔 ti

to pick out; to scrape off; picky

radical 18 ⼑ · 10 strokes

Related words

Other words that share a character with 挑剔.

Word	Pinyin	Meaning
挑战 (挑戰)	tiǎo zhàn	to challenge; to take on a challenge; a challenge
挑选 (挑選)	tiāo xuǎn	to choose; to select
挑衅 (挑釁)	tiǎo xìn	to provoke; provocation
挑起	tiǎo qǐ	to provoke; to stir up
挑逗	tiǎo dòu	to provoke; to entice
挑战者 (挑戰者)	tiǎo zhàn zhě	challenger
剔除	tī chú	to reject; to discard
无可挑剔 (無可挑剔)	wú kě tiāo ti	excellent in every respect; flawless

See also: Japanese symbol for “picky”.

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.