Chinese symbol for “stalled”
进退不得
jìn tuì bù dé
Traditional: 進退不得
can't advance or retreat (idiom); no room for maneuver; stalled; in a dilemma; stuck in a difficult position
The closest CC-CEDICT match for stalled is 进退不得 (jìn tuì bù dé), defined as: can't advance or retreat (idiom); no room for maneuver; stalled; in a dilemma; stuck in a difficult position.
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
Related words
Other words that share a character with 进退不得.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 进行 (進行) | jìn xíng | (of a process etc) to proceed; to be in progress; to be underway; (of people) to carry out; to conduct (an investigation or discussion etc) |
| 进入 (進入) | jìn rù | to enter; to go into |
| 进一步 (進一步) | jìn yī bù | to go a step further; (develop, understand, improve etc) more; further |
| 促进 (促進) | cù jìn | to promote (an idea or cause); to advance; boost |
| 先进 (先進) | xiān jìn | sophisticated; advanced (technology etc); meritorious; exemplary (deeds etc) |
| 进步 (進步) | jìn bù | progress; improvement; to improve; to progress |
| 退出 | tuì chū | to withdraw; to abort |
| 退休 | tuì xiū | to retire (from the workforce); to go into retirement |
| 不是 | bù shì | no; is not |
| 觉得 (覺得) | jué de | to think that ...; to feel that ...; to feel (uncomfortable etc) |
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.