Chinese symbol for “rut”
辙
zhé
Traditional: 轍
rut; track of a wheel (Taiwan pr. [che4]); (coll.) the direction of traffic; a rhyme (of a song, poem etc); (dialect) (usu. after 有 (yǒu) or 没 (méi)) way; idea
The closest CC-CEDICT match for rut is 辙 (zhé), defined as: rut; track of a wheel (Taiwan pr. [che4]); (coll.) the direction of traffic; a rhyme (of a song, poem etc); (dialect) (usu. after 有 (yǒu) or 没 (méi)) way; idea.
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
Other Chinese words for “rut”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 故辙 (故轍) | gù zhé | rut (made by vehicles); (fig.) conventional ways |
| 窠臼 | kē jiù | stereotypical pattern; rut |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 辙.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 重蹈覆辙 (重蹈覆轍) | chóng dǎo fù zhé | lit. to follow in the tracks of an overturned cart (idiom); fig. to follow a path that led to failure in the past |
| 覆辙 (覆轍) | fù zhé | the tracks of a cart that overturned; (fig.) a path that led to failure in the past |
| 如出一辙 (如出一轍) | rú chū yī zhé | to be precisely the same; to be no different |
| 没辙 (沒轍) | méi zhé | at one's wit's end; unable to find a way out |
| 南辕北辙 (南轅北轍) | nán yuán běi zhé | to act in a way that defeats one's purpose (idiom) |
| 改弦易辙 (改弦易轍) | gǎi xián yì zhé | change of string, move out of rut (idiom); dramatic change of direction; to dance to a different tune |
See also: Japanese symbol for “rut”.
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.