Chinese symbol for “shaft”
杆
gān
(bound form) pole; shaft
The closest CC-CEDICT match for shaft is 杆 (gān), defined as: (bound form) pole; shaft.
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
Other Chinese words for “shaft”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 车把 (車把) | chē bǎ | handlebar (of a bicycle); shaft (of a rickshaw) |
| 坑 | kēng | pit; hollow; depression; (mining) pit; shaft; tunnel |
| 矛柄 | máo bǐng | shaft |
| 机轴 (機軸) | jī zhóu | arbor; shaft (in a machine) |
| 抦 | bǐng | old variant of 秉 (bǐng); variant of 柄 (bǐng) |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 杆.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 杠杆 (槓桿) | gàng gǎn | lever; pry bar |
| 栏杆 (欄杆) | lán gān | railing; banister |
| 杆菌 (桿菌) | gǎn jūn | bacillus (any rod-shaped bacteria) |
| 铁杆 (鐵桿) | tiě gān | iron (golf club) |
| 电线杆 (電線杆) | diàn xiàn gān | electric pole; telephone pole |
See also: Japanese symbol for “shaft”.
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.