Chinese symbol for “powerless”
无能
wú néng
Traditional: 無能
incompetence; inability; incapable; powerless
The closest CC-CEDICT match for powerless is 无能 (wú néng), defined as: incompetence; inability; incapable; powerless.
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 “powerless”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 苍白无力 (蒼白無力) | cāng bái wú lì | pale and feeble; powerless |
| 无牙 (無牙) | wú yá | toothless; (fig.) powerless |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 无能.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 无法 (無法) | wú fǎ | unable to; incapable of |
| 无论 (無論) | wú lùn | no matter what or how; regardless of whether... |
| 毫无 (毫無) | háo wú | not in the least; to completely lack |
| 无限 (無限) | wú xiàn | unlimited; unbounded; infinite |
| 无关 (無關) | wú guān | unrelated; having nothing to do (with sth else) |
| 无数 (無數) | wú shù | countless; numberless |
| 可能 | kě néng | might (happen); possible |
| 不能 | bù néng | cannot; must not |
See also: Japanese symbol for “powerless”.
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.