Chinese symbol for “prostitution”
卖淫
mài yín
Traditional: 賣淫
prostitution; to prostitute oneself
The closest CC-CEDICT match for prostitution is 卖淫 (mài yín), defined as: prostitution; to prostitute oneself.
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 “prostitution”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 性交易 | xìng jiāo yì | prostitution; commercial sex |
| 风尘 (風塵) | fēng chén | windblown dust; hardships of travel |
| 性服务 (性服務) | xìng fú wù | sexual service; prostitution |
| 性工作 | xìng gōng zuò | employment as sex worker; prostitution |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 卖淫.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 买卖 (買賣) | mǎi mài | to buy and sell |
| 出卖 (出賣) | chū mài | to offer for sale; to sell; to sell out; to betray |
| 拍卖 (拍賣) | pāi mài | to auction; auction sale |
| 贩卖 (販賣) | fàn mài | to sell; to peddle |
| 卖掉 (賣掉) | mài diào | to sell off |
| 淫荡 (淫蕩) | yín dàng | loose in morals; lascivious |
| 淫乱 (淫亂) | yín luàn | promiscuous |
| 手淫 | shǒu yín | to masturbate; masturbation |
See also: Japanese symbol for “prostitution”.
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.