Chinese symbol for “shortcomings”

毛病

máo bìng

fault; defect; shortcomings; ailment

The closest CC-CEDICT match for shortcomings is 毛病 (máo bìng), defined as: fault; defect; shortcomings; ailment; 个 (gè).

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

毛 máo

hair, fur, feathers; coarse

radical 82 ⽑ · 4 strokes

病 bìng

sickness, illness, disease

radical 104 ⽧ · 10 strokes

Related words

Other words that share a character with 毛病.

Word	Pinyin	Meaning
毛巾	máo jīn	towel; 条 (tiáo)
羽毛	yǔ máo	feather; plumage
毛利	máo lì	gross profit
羊毛	yáng máo	wool; fleece
眉毛	méi mao	eyebrow; measure word: 根 (gēn)
病毒	bìng dú	virus
疾病	jí bìng	disease; sickness; ailment
病人	bìng rén	sick person; patient

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.