King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Chinese symbol for “rustling”

瑟瑟
sè sè
trembling; rustling

The closest CC-CEDICT match for rustling is 瑟瑟 (sè sè), defined as: trembling; rustling.

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

瑟 sè
a large string instrument; to tremble, to vibrate
radical 96 ⽟ · 13 strokes
瑟
瑟 sè
a large string instrument; to tremble, to vibrate
radical 96 ⽟ · 13 strokes

Other Chinese words for “rustling”

WordPinyinMeaning
唰shuā(onom.) swishing; rustling
簌簌sù sùvery slight sound; rustling (onom.)

Related words

Other words that share a character with 瑟瑟.

WordPinyinMeaning
萧瑟 (蕭瑟)xiāo sèto rustle in the air; to rustle
卢瑟 (盧瑟)lú sè(loanword) loser
琴瑟qín sèqin and se, two string instruments that play in perfect harmony; marital harmony
得瑟dè se(dialect) cocky; smug; to show off
瑟缩 (瑟縮)sè suōto curl up shivering (from cold); timid and trembling (in fear)

See also: Japanese symbol for “rustling”.

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.