Chinese symbol for “start”
发动
fā dòng
Traditional: 發動
to start; to launch; to unleash; to mobilize
The closest CC-CEDICT match for start is 发动 (fā dòng), defined as: to start; to launch; to unleash; to mobilize; to arouse.
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 “start”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 启动 (啟動) | qǐ dòng | to start (a machine); (fig.) to set in motion |
| 开始 (開始) | kāi shǐ | to begin; to start; beginning; start |
| 开启 (開啟) | kāi qǐ | to start; to begin; to initiate (an era, process, journey etc); (computing) to enable (a feature) |
| 下手 | xià shǒu | to start; to put one's hand to |
| 开端 (開端) | kāi duān | start; beginning |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 发动.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 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") |
| 发现 (發現) | fā xiàn | to notice; to become aware of; to discover; to find; to detect |
| 开发 (開發) | kāi fā | to exploit (a resource); to open up (for development); to develop |
| 发布 (發佈) | fā bù | variant of 发布 (fā bù) |
| 活动 (活動) | huó dòng | to exercise; to move about; to work out; shaky; unsteady; loose (tooth etc) |
| 运动 (運動) | yùn dòng | to move; to exercise |
| 行动 (行動) | xíng dòng | operation; action |
See also: Japanese symbol for “start”.
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.