Chinese symbol for “pluck”
弹
tán
Traditional: 彈
to pluck (a string); to play (a string instrument); to spring or leap; to shoot (e.g. with a catapult)
The closest CC-CEDICT match for pluck is 弹 (tán), defined as: to pluck (a string); to play (a string instrument); to spring or leap; to shoot (e.g. with a catapult); (of cotton) to fluff or tease; to flick.
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 “pluck”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 拔掉 | bá diào | to pluck; to pull off |
| 采摘 (採摘) | cǎi zhāi | to pluck; to pick |
| 摘取 | zhāi qǔ | to pluck; to take |
| 摘 | zhāi | to take; to pick (flowers, fruit etc); to pluck; to remove; to take off (glasses, hat etc); to select; to pick out |
| 弹拨 (彈撥) | tán bō | to pluck (a string) |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 弹.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 炸弹 (炸彈) | zhà dàn | bomb; measure word: 枚 (méi), 颗 (kē) |
| 导弹 (導彈) | dǎo dàn | (guided) missile; measure word: 枚 (méi) |
| 子弹 (子彈) | zǐ dàn | bullet; measure word: 粒 (lì), 颗 (kē), 发 (fā) |
| 弹性 (彈性) | tán xìng | flexibility; elasticity |
| 弹药 (彈藥) | dàn yào | ammunition |
| 反弹 (反彈) | fǎn tán | to bounce; to bounce back |
See also: Japanese symbol for “pluck”.
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.
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