Chinese symbol for “steal”
偷
tōu
to steal; (bound form) thief; (bound form) secretly; on the sly
The closest CC-CEDICT match for steal is 偷 (tōu), defined as: to steal; (bound form) thief; (bound form) secretly; on the sly.
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
Other Chinese words for “steal”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 盗 (盜) | dào | to steal; to rob |
| 盗窃 (盜竊) | dào qiè | to steal |
| 窃取 (竊取) | qiè qǔ | to steal (usu. private information, intellectual property etc) |
| 偷窃 (偷竊) | tōu qiè | to steal; to pilfer |
| 窃 (竊) | qiè | to steal; secretly |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 偷.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 偷偷 | tōu tōu | stealthily; secretly |
| 小偷 | xiǎo tōu | thief |
| 偷拍 | tōu pāi | to photograph or film sb without their knowledge or consent |
| 偷看 | tōu kàn | to peep; to peek |
| 偷窃 (偷竊) | tōu qiè | to steal; to pilfer |
| 偷袭 (偷襲) | tōu xí | to mount a sneak attack; to raid |
See also: Japanese symbol for “steal”.
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.