Chinese symbol for “solemn”
严肃
yán sù
Traditional: 嚴肅
(of an atmosphere etc) solemn; grave; serious; (of a manner etc) earnest; severe; exacting; to strictly enforce
The closest CC-CEDICT match for solemn is 严肃 (yán sù), defined as: (of an atmosphere etc) solemn; grave; serious; (of a manner etc) earnest; severe; exacting; to strictly enforce.
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 “solemn”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 穆 | mù | solemn; reverent |
| 庄严 (莊嚴) | zhuāng yán | solemn; dignified; stately |
| 像模像样 (像模像樣) | xiàng mú xiàng yàng | solemn; presentable |
| 岸然 | àn rán | solemn; serious |
| 板板 | bǎn bǎn | solemn |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 严肃.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 严重 (嚴重) | yán zhòng | grave; serious; severe; critical |
| 严格 (嚴格) | yán gé | strict; stringent; tight; rigorous |
| 尊严 (尊嚴) | zūn yán | dignity; sanctity |
| 严厉 (嚴厲) | yán lì | severe; strict |
| 严峻 (嚴峻) | yán jùn | grim; severe |
| 肃清 (肅清) | sù qīng | to purge |
| 整肃 (整肅) | zhěng sù | strict; serious |
| 肃静 (肅靜) | sù jìng | solemnly silent |
See also: Japanese symbol for “solemn”.
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.