Chinese symbol for “rat”
老鼠
lǎo shǔ
rat; mouse (只 (zhī))
The closest CC-CEDICT match for rat is 老鼠 (lǎo shǔ), defined as: rat; mouse (只 (zhī)).
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
Other Chinese words for “rat”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 鼠 | shǔ | (bound form) rat; mouse |
| 大鼠 | dà shǔ | rat |
| 赖 (賴) | lài | to depend on; to hang on in a place |
| 耗子 | hào zi | (dialect) mouse; rat |
| 内鬼 (內鬼) | nèi guǐ | mole; spy |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 老鼠.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 老师 (老師) | lǎo shī | teacher |
| 老婆 | lǎo pó | (coll.) wife |
| 老板 | lǎo bǎn | variant of 老板 (lǎo bǎn) |
| 老人 | lǎo rén | old man or woman; the elderly |
| 老公 | lǎo gōng | (coll.) husband |
| 鼠标 (鼠標) | shǔ biāo | (computing) mouse |
| 松鼠 | sōng shǔ | squirrel |
| 袋鼠 | dài shǔ | kangaroo |
See also: Japanese symbol for “rat”.
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.