King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Chinese symbol for “ratchet”

棘轮
jí lún
Traditional: 棘輪
ratchet

The closest CC-CEDICT match for ratchet is 棘轮 (jí lún), defined as: ratchet.

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

棘 jí
jujube tree; thorns, brambles
radical 75 ⽊ · 12 strokes
轮 lún
wheel; to turn, to revolve; to recur
radical 159 ⾞ · 8 strokes

Traditional forms

Related words

Other words that share a character with 棘轮.

WordPinyinMeaning
棘手jí shǒuthorny (problem); intractable
荆棘 (荊棘)jīng jíthistles and thorns; brambles
披荆斩棘 (披荊斬棘)pī jīng zhǎn jílit. to cut one's way through thistles and thorns (idiom); fig. to overcome all obstacles on the way
沙棘shā jí(botany) sea buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides)
棘皮动物 (棘皮動物)jí pí dòng wùechinoderm, the phylum containing sea urchins, sea cucumbers etc
轮胎 (輪胎)lún tāitire; pneumatic tire
一轮 (一輪)yī lúnfirst round or stage (of a match, election, talks, planned policy etc)
轮流 (輪流)lún liúto alternate; to take turns

See also: Japanese symbol for “ratchet”.

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.