Chinese symbol for “shackle”
束缚
shù fù
Traditional: 束縛
to bind; to tie up; to fetter; to shackle
The closest CC-CEDICT match for shackle is 束缚 (shù fù), defined as: to bind; to tie up; to fetter; to shackle.
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 “shackle”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 牢笼 (牢籠) | láo lóng | cage; trap (e.g. basket, pit or snare for catching animals) |
| 卸扣 | xiè kòu | shackle (U-shaped link) |
| 钩环 (鉤環) | gōu huán | shackle (U-shaped link) |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 束缚.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 结束 (結束) | jié shù | to end; to finish; to conclude |
| 约束 (約束) | yuē shù | to restrict; to limit to |
| 拘束 | jū shù | to restrict; to restrain |
| 光束 | guāng shù | light beam |
| 束手无策 (束手無策) | shù shǒu wú cè | lit. to have one's hands bound and be unable to do anything about it (idiom); fig. helpless in the face of a crisis |
| 作茧自缚 (作繭自縛) | zuò jiǎn zì fù | to spin a cocoon around oneself (idiom); enmeshed in a trap of one's own devising; hoist by his own petard |
| 捆缚 (捆縛) | kǔn fù | bondage |
| 绑缚 (綁縛) | bǎng fù | to tie up; to bind |
See also: Japanese symbol for “shackle”.
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.