Chinese symbol for “shackles”
铐
kào
Traditional: 銬
shackles; fetters; manacle
The closest CC-CEDICT match for shackles is 铐 (kào), defined as: shackles; fetters; manacle.
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 “shackles”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 械 | xiè | appliance; tool |
| 禁锢 (禁錮) | jìn gù | to confine; to imprison |
| 锁链 (鎖鏈) | suǒ liàn | chains; shackles |
| 牢笼 (牢籠) | láo lóng | cage; trap (e.g. basket, pit or snare for catching animals) |
| 桎梏 | zhì gù | (literary) shackles |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 铐.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 手铐 (手銬) | shǒu kào | manacles; handcuffs |
| 镣铐 (鐐銬) | liào kào | manacles and leg-irons; fetters and handcuffs |
See also: Japanese symbol for “shackles”.
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.