King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Chinese symbol for “simple”

简单
jiǎn dān
Traditional: 簡單
simple; not complicated

The closest CC-CEDICT match for simple is 简单 (jiǎn dān), defined as: simple; not complicated.

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

简 jiǎn
simple, succinct, terse; a letter
radical 118 ⽵ · 13 strokes
单 dān
single, individual, only; lone
radical 24 ⼗ · 8 strokes

Traditional forms

Other Chinese words for “simple”

WordPinyinMeaning
单纯 (單純)dān chúnsimple; pure
简 (簡)jiǎnsimple; uncomplicated
简略 (簡略)jiǎn lüèsimple; brief
简朴 (簡樸)jiǎn pǔ(of lifestyle, clothing, writing etc) simple; plain
质朴 (質樸)zhì pǔsimple; plain

Related words

Other words that share a character with 简单.

WordPinyinMeaning
简直 (簡直)jiǎn zhísimply; really
简称 (簡稱)jiǎn chēngto be abbreviated to; abbreviation; short form
简介 (簡介)jiǎn jièsummary; brief introduction
简化 (簡化)jiǎn huàto simplify
简历 (簡歷)jiǎn lìcurriculum vitae (CV); résumé
单位 (單位)dān wèiunit (of measure); unit (group of people as a whole)
名单 (名單)míng dānlist of names
单独 (單獨)dān dúalone; by oneself

See also: Japanese symbol for “simple”.

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.

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