Chinese symbol for “serious”
严重
yán zhòng
Traditional: 嚴重
grave; serious; severe; critical
The closest CC-CEDICT match for serious is 严重 (yán zhòng), defined as: grave; serious; severe; critical.
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 “serious”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 郑重 (鄭重) | zhèng zhòng | serious; solemn |
| 重度 | zhòng dù | serious; severe |
| 严肃 (嚴肅) | yán sù | (of an atmosphere etc) solemn; grave; serious; (of a manner etc) earnest; severe; exacting |
| 较真 (較真) | jiào zhēn | serious; meticulous; nitpicky; to take sth (or sb) seriously |
| 正儿八经 (正兒八經) | zhèng ér bā jīng | serious; earnest |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 严重.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 严格 (嚴格) | yán gé | strict; stringent; tight; rigorous |
| 严肃 (嚴肅) | yán sù | (of an atmosphere etc) solemn; grave; serious; (of a manner etc) earnest; severe; exacting |
| 尊严 (尊嚴) | zūn yán | dignity; sanctity |
| 严厉 (嚴厲) | yán lì | severe; strict |
| 严峻 (嚴峻) | yán jùn | grim; severe |
| 重要 | zhòng yào | important; significant; major |
| 重点 (重點) | chóng diǎn | to recount (e.g. results of election); to re-evaluate |
| 重新 | chóng xīn | again; once more; re- |
See also: Japanese symbol for “serious”.
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.