Chinese symbol for “shattered”

残缺

cán quē

Traditional: 殘缺

badly damaged; shattered

The closest CC-CEDICT match for shattered is 残缺 (cán quē), defined as: badly damaged; shattered.

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

残 cán

to injure, to ruin, to spoil; cruel, oppressive, savage; disabled, inc

radical 78 ⽍ · 9 strokes

缺 quē

to lack, to be short; vacancy, gap, deficit

radical 121 ⽸ · 10 strokes

Traditional forms

殘 cán

Related words

Other words that share a character with 残缺.

Word	Pinyin	Meaning
残酷 (殘酷)	cán kù	cruel; harsh; merciless
残忍 (殘忍)	cán rěn	cruel; merciless; ruthless
残疾 (殘疾)	cán jí	disabled; handicapped
残疾人 (殘疾人)	cán jí rén	disabled person
残留 (殘留)	cán liú	to remain; to be left over; residual; remnant
残暴 (殘暴)	cán bào	brutal; vicious; ruthless
缺乏	quē fá	to lack; to be short of
缺少	quē shǎo	lack; shortage of

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.