King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Chinese symbol for “purpose”

目的
mù dì
purpose; aim; goal; target; objective

The closest CC-CEDICT match for purpose is 目的 (mù dì), defined as: purpose; aim; goal; target; objective.

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

目 mù
eye; to look, to see; division, topic
radical 109 ⽬ · 5 strokes
的 dì
aim, goal; of; possessive particle; -self suffix
radical 106 ⽩ · 8 strokes

Other Chinese words for “purpose”

WordPinyinMeaning
作用zuò yòngto act on; to affect; action; function; activity
宗zōngschool; sect
意向yì xiàngintention; purpose
旨zhǐimperial decree; purport
针对性 (針對性)zhēn duì xìngfocus; direction

Related words

Other words that share a character with 目的.

WordPinyinMeaning
目前mù qiánat the present time; currently
项目 (項目)xiàng mùitem; project; (sports) event
目标 (目標)mù biāotarget; goal
节目 (節目)jié mù(TV or radio) program; show; item; act; segment; number (on the program of a concert, variety show or cultural event)
目录 (目錄)mù lùcatalog; table of contents
真的zhēn dereally; truly; indeed; real; true; genuine
的话 (的話)de huàif (coming after a conditional clause)
的确 (的確)dí quèreally; indeed

See also: Japanese symbol for “purpose”.

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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