Chinese symbol for “scribble”
涂
tú
Traditional: 塗
to apply (paint etc); to smear; to daub; to blot out
The closest CC-CEDICT match for scribble is 涂 (tú), defined as: to apply (paint etc); to smear; to daub; to blot out; to scribble; to scrawl.
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 “scribble”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 涂鸦 (塗鴉) | tú yā | graffiti; scrawl |
| 涂写 (塗寫) | tú xiě | to daub; to scribble (graffiti) |
| 涂鸭 (塗鴨) | tú yā | variant of 涂鸦 (tú yā); graffiti |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 涂.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 糊涂 (糊塗) | hú tu | muddled; silly |
| 涂鸦 (塗鴉) | tú yā | graffiti; scrawl |
| 涂料 (塗料) | tú liào | paint |
| 涂抹 (塗抹) | tú mǒ | to paint; to smear |
| 一塌糊涂 (一塌糊塗) | yī tā hú tu | muddled and completely collapsing (idiom); in an awful condition; complete shambles |
| 涂层 (塗層) | tú céng | protective layer; coating |
See also: Japanese symbol for “scribble”.
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.