Chinese symbol for “severe”
严厉
yán lì
Traditional: 嚴厲
severe; strict
The closest CC-CEDICT match for severe is 严厉 (yán lì), defined as: severe; strict.
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 “severe”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 严重 (嚴重) | yán zhòng | grave; serious; severe; critical |
| 厉害 (厲害) | lì hai | (used to describe sb or sth that makes a very strong impression, whether favorable or unfavorable) terrible; intense; severe; devastating; amazing; awesome; outstanding; (of a pers |
| 严苛 (嚴苛) | yán kē | severe; harsh |
| 苛 | kē | severe; exacting |
| 剧烈 (劇烈) | jù liè | violent; acute; severe; fierce |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 严厉.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 严重 (嚴重) | yán zhòng | grave; serious; severe; critical |
| 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 |
| 严峻 (嚴峻) | yán jùn | grim; severe |
| 厉害 (厲害) | lì hai | (used to describe sb or sth that makes a very strong impression, whether favorable or unfavorable) terrible; intense; severe; devastating; a |
| 再接再厉 (再接再厲) | zài jiē zài lì | to continue the struggle (idiom); to persist; unremitting efforts |
| 变本加厉 (變本加厲) | biàn běn jiā lì | lit. change to more severe (idiom); to become more intense (esp. of shortcoming); to aggravate |
See also: Japanese symbol for “severe”.
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.