Chinese symbol for “retractable”
伸缩
shēn suō
Traditional: 伸縮
to lengthen and shorten; flexible; adjustable; retractable
The closest CC-CEDICT match for retractable is 伸缩 (shēn suō), defined as: to lengthen and shorten; flexible; adjustable; retractable; extensible; telescoping (collapsible).
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
Related words
Other words that share a character with 伸缩.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 延伸 | yán shēn | to extend; to stretch; to expand; to spread |
| 伸出 | shēn chū | to extend |
| 伸手 | shēn shǒu | to reach out with one's hand; to hold out a hand |
| 伸展 | shēn zhǎn | stretching; extension |
| 伸张 (伸張) | shēn zhāng | to uphold (e.g. justice or virtue); to promote |
| 缩短 (縮短) | suō duǎn | to shorten; to reduce; to curtail |
| 缩小 (縮小) | suō xiǎo | to reduce; to decrease; to shrink |
| 压缩 (壓縮) | yā suō | to compress; compression |
See also: Japanese symbol for “retractable”.
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.