King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Chinese symbol for “stuff”

东西
dōng xi
Traditional: 東西
thing; stuff; person; 个 (gè),件 (jiàn)

The closest CC-CEDICT match for stuff is 东西 (dōng xi), defined as: thing; stuff; person; 个 (gè),件 (jiàn).

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

东 dōng
east, eastern, eastward
radical 1 ⼀ · 5 strokes
西 xi
west, western, westward
radical 146 ⾑ · 6 strokes

Traditional forms

Other Chinese words for “stuff”

WordPinyinMeaning
填充tián chōngto fill up; to stuff; to fill in a blank space
料liàomaterial; stuff
填堵tián dǔto stuff; to cram into
东东 (東東)dōng dōng(coll.) thing; item
货色 (貨色)huò sègoods; (derog.) stuff

Related words

Other words that share a character with 东西.

WordPinyinMeaning
东北 (東北)dōng běinortheast
东方 (東方)dōng fāngeast
东部 (東部)dōng bùthe east; eastern part
股东 (股東)gǔ dōngshareholder; stockholder
西部xī bùwestern part
西北xī běinorthwest
西南xī nánsouthwest
法西斯fǎ xī sīfascist (loanword)

See also: Japanese symbol for “stuff”.

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.