King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Chinese symbol for “piercing”

刺骨
cì gǔ
piercing; cutting; bone-chilling; penetrating (cold)

The closest CC-CEDICT match for piercing is 刺骨 (cì gǔ), defined as: piercing; cutting; bone-chilling; penetrating (cold).

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

刺 cì
to stab; to prick, to irritate; to prod
radical 18 ⼑ · 8 strokes
骨 gǔ
bone; skeleton; frame, framework
radical 188 ⾻ · 10 strokes

Other Chinese words for “piercing”

WordPinyinMeaning
尖jiānpointed; tapering; sharp; (of a sound) shrill; piercing
尖利jiān lìsharp; keen

Related words

Other words that share a character with 刺骨.

WordPinyinMeaning
刺激cì jīto provoke; to irritate; to upset; to stimulate; to excite; irritant
讽刺 (諷刺)fěng cìto satirize; to mock
刺杀 (刺殺)cì shāto assassinate; (military) to fight with a bayonet
刺客cì kèassassin
遇刺yù cìto be attacked by an assassin
刺史cì shǐprovincial governor (old)
骨头 (骨頭)gǔ toubone; measure word: 根 (gēn), 块 (kuài)
骨干 (骨幹)gǔ gàndiaphysis (long segment of a bone); fig. backbone

See also: Japanese symbol for “piercing”.

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.