Chinese symbol for “spontaneous”
自发
zì fā
Traditional: 自發
spontaneous
The closest CC-CEDICT match for spontaneous is 自发 (zì fā), defined as: spontaneous.
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 “spontaneous”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 主动 (主動) | zhǔ dòng | to take the initiative; to do sth of one's own accord |
| 油然而生 | yóu rán ér shēng | arising involuntarily (idiom); spontaneous; to spring up unbidden (of emotion) |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 自发.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 自己 | zì jǐ | oneself; (attributive) one's own |
| 自由 | zì yóu | freedom; liberty; free; unrestricted |
| 来自 (來自) | lái zì | to come from (a place); From: (in email header) |
| 自然 | zì rán | nature; natural |
| 自动 (自動) | zì dòng | automatic; voluntarily |
| 自身 | zì shēn | itself; oneself |
| 发展 (發展) | fā zhǎn | development; growth |
| 发生 (發生) | fā shēng | to happen; to occur; to take place; to arise (e.g. 发生问题 (fā shēng wèn tí) "a problem arises") |
See also: Japanese symbol for “spontaneous”.
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.