Chinese symbol for “shortage”
短缺
duǎn quē
shortage
The closest CC-CEDICT match for shortage is 短缺 (duǎn quē), defined as: shortage.
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 “shortage”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 荒 | huāng | desolate; shortage |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 短缺.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 短期 | duǎn qī | short-term |
| 短片 | duǎn piàn | short film; video clip |
| 短暂 (短暫) | duǎn zàn | of short duration; brief; momentary |
| 缩短 (縮短) | suō duǎn | to shorten; to reduce; to curtail |
| 短信 | duǎn xìn | text message; SMS |
| 缺乏 | quē fá | to lack; to be short of |
| 缺少 | quē shǎo | lack; shortage of |
| 缺点 (缺點) | quē diǎn | weak point; fault |
See also: Japanese symbol for “shortage”.
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.