Chinese symbol for “spade”
铁锹
tiě qiāo
Traditional: 鐵鍬
spade; shovel
The closest CC-CEDICT match for spade is 铁锹 (tiě qiāo), defined as: spade; shovel.
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 “spade”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 锸 (鍤) | chā | spade; shovel |
| 铲子 (鏟子) | chǎn zi | shovel; spade; trowel; spatula (kitchen utensil); measure word: 把 (bǎ) |
| 鍏 | wéi | spade |
| 铲 (鏟) | chǎn | variant of 铲 (chǎn); (bound form) spade; shovel |
| 锹 (鍬) | qiāo | shovel; spade |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 铁锹.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 铁路 (鐵路) | tiě lù | railroad; railway |
| 地铁 (地鐵) | dì tiě | underground railway; subway; subway train |
| 钢铁 (鋼鐵) | gāng tiě | steel |
| 高铁 (高鐵) | gāo tiě | high speed rail |
| 地铁站 (地鐵站) | dì tiě zhàn | subway station |
| 铁道 (鐵道) | tiě dào | railway line; rail track |
| 扁锹形虫 (扁鍬形蟲) | biǎn qiāo xíng chóng | giant stag beetle (Dorcus titanus) |
| 锹形虫 (鍬形蟲) | qiāo xíng chóng | stag beetle (generic term for the beetles in the family of lucanidae) |
See also: Japanese symbol for “spade”.
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.