Chinese symbol for “shrink”
缩水
suō shuǐ
Traditional: 縮水
to shrink (in the wash); fig. to shrink (of profits etc)
The closest CC-CEDICT match for shrink is 缩水 (suō shuǐ), defined as: to shrink (in the wash); fig. to shrink (of profits etc).
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 “shrink”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 缩小 (縮小) | suō xiǎo | to reduce; to decrease; to shrink |
| 抽 | chōu | to draw out; to pull out from in between; to remove part of the whole |
| 收缩 (收縮) | shōu suō | to pull back; to shrink |
| 缩 (縮) | suō | to withdraw; to pull back |
| 瑟缩 (瑟縮) | sè suō | to curl up shivering (from cold); timid and trembling (in fear) |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 缩水.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 缩短 (縮短) | suō duǎn | to shorten; to reduce; to curtail |
| 缩小 (縮小) | suō xiǎo | to reduce; to decrease; to shrink |
| 压缩 (壓縮) | yā suō | to compress; compression |
| 收缩 (收縮) | shōu suō | to pull back; to shrink |
| 缩写 (縮寫) | suō xiě | abbreviation; to abridge |
| 紧缩 (緊縮) | jǐn suō | (economics) to reduce; to curtail |
| 水平 | shuǐ píng | horizontal; level; a standard; a level (of ability, development etc) |
| 水果 | shuǐ guǒ | fruit |
See also: Japanese symbol for “shrink”.
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.