Chinese symbol for “sluggish”
滞
zhì
Traditional: 滯
(bound form) sluggish; stagnant
The closest CC-CEDICT match for sluggish is 滞 (zhì), defined as: (bound form) sluggish; stagnant.
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 “sluggish”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 缓慢 (緩慢) | huǎn màn | slow; unhurried; sluggish |
| 蠢 | chǔn | stupid; sluggish |
| 缓 (緩) | huǎn | slow; unhurried |
| 拖沓 | tuō tà | dilatory; sluggish; muddled; roundabout |
| 迟钝 (遲鈍) | chí dùn | slow in one's reactions; sluggish (in movement or thought) |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 滞.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 停滞 (停滯) | tíng zhì | stagnation; at a standstill |
| 滞留 (滯留) | zhì liú | (of a person) to remain in (a place) (due to circumstances that prevent one leaving); to be stranded; (of sth that would typically dissipate |
| 滞后 (滯後) | zhì hòu | to lag behind |
| 停滞不前 (停滯不前) | tíng zhì bù qián | stuck and not moving forward (idiom); stagnant; in a rut |
| 阻滞 (阻滯) | zǔ zhì | to clog up; silted up |
| 迟滞 (遲滯) | chí zhì | delay; procrastination |
See also: Japanese symbol for “sluggish”.
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.