Chinese symbol for “slave”
奴隶
nú lì
Traditional: 奴隸
slave
The closest CC-CEDICT match for slave is 奴隶 (nú lì), defined as: slave.
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 “slave”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 奴 | nú | slave |
| 奴才 | nú cai | slave; fig. flunkey |
| 虏 (虜) | lǔ | prisoner of war; to capture |
| 臣虏 (臣虜) | chén lǔ | slave |
| 从动 (從動) | cóng dòng | -driven (of mechanism, driven by a component); slave (wheel, pulley) |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 奴隶.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 奴役 | nú yì | to enslave |
| 奴隶制 (奴隸制) | nú lì zhì | slavery |
| 奴才 | nú cai | slave; fig. flunkey |
| 农奴 (農奴) | nóng nú | serf |
| 奴隶主 (奴隸主) | nú lì zhǔ | slave owner |
| 隶属 (隸屬) | lì shǔ | to be subordinate to; to be under the jurisdiction of |
| 奴隶制度 (奴隸制度) | nú lì zhì dù | slavery |
| 奴隶社会 (奴隸社會) | nú lì shè huì | slave-owning society (precedes feudal society 封建社會|封建社会 in Marxist theory) |
See also: Japanese symbol for “slave”.
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.