King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Chinese symbol for “stagnant”

滞
zhì
Traditional: 滯
(bound form) sluggish; stagnant

The closest CC-CEDICT match for stagnant 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

滞 zhì
to block, to obstruct; sluggish, stagnant
radical 85 ⽔ · 12 strokes

Traditional forms

Other Chinese words for “stagnant”

WordPinyinMeaning
停滞不前 (停滯不前)tíng zhì bù qiánstuck and not moving forward (idiom); stagnant; in a rut
沉凝chén níngstagnant; congealed

Related words

Other words that share a character with 滞.

WordPinyinMeaning
停滞 (停滯)tíng zhìstagnation; 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 hòuto lag behind
停滞不前 (停滯不前)tíng zhì bù qiánstuck and not moving forward (idiom); stagnant; in a rut
阻滞 (阻滯)zǔ zhìto clog up; silted up
迟滞 (遲滯)chí zhìdelay; procrastination

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.