King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Chinese symbol for “stern”

正色
zhèng sè
stern; grim; resolute; firm

The closest CC-CEDICT match for stern is 正色 (zhèng sè), defined as: stern; grim; resolute; firm; unflinching; fundamental colors.

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

正 zhèng
straight, right, proper, correct, just, true
radical 77 ⽌ · 5 strokes
色 sè
color, tint, hue, shade; beauty, form; sex
radical 139 ⾊ · 6 strokes

Other Chinese words for “stern”

WordPinyinMeaning
厉害 (厲害)lì hai(used to describe sb or sth that makes a very strong impression, whether favorable or unfavorable) terrible; intense; severe; devastating; amazing; awesome; outstanding; (of a pers
严 (嚴)yántight (closely sealed); stern
冷厉 (冷厲)lěng lìstern; unsympathetic; icy
烈lièardent; intense
凛 (凜)lǐncold; to shiver with cold

Related words

Other words that share a character with 正色.

WordPinyinMeaning
正在zhèng zàito be in the process of (doing sth); to be currently ...-ing
真正zhēn zhènggenuine; real; true; really; indeed
正式zhèng shìformal; official
正常zhèng chángnormal; regular
正确 (正確)zhèng quècorrect; sound; right; proper
正是zhèng shìis precisely
角色jué sèrole; part (in a play or movie etc); also pr. [jiao3se4]
特色tè sèa characteristic; a distinctive feature or quality

See also: Japanese symbol for “stern”.

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.

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