Chinese symbol for “suboptimal”

欠佳

qiàn jiā

suboptimal; subpar; not good enough

The closest CC-CEDICT match for suboptimal is 欠佳 (qiàn jiā), defined as: suboptimal; subpar; not good enough.

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

欠 qiàn

to lack, to owe; to breathe, to yawn

radical 76 ⽋ · 4 strokes

佳 jiā

good, auspicious; beautiful; delightful

radical 9 ⼈ · 8 strokes

Related words

Other words that share a character with 欠佳.

Word	Pinyin	Meaning
欠缺	qiàn quē	to be deficient in; lapse
拖欠	tuō qiàn	in arrears; behind in payments
亏欠 (虧欠)	kuī qiàn	to have a deficit; to be in the red; to owe
欠债 (欠債)	qiàn zhài	to owe a debt; the sum owed
欠款	qiàn kuǎn	to owe a debt; balance due
最佳	zuì jiā	optimum; optimal
不佳	bù jiā	not good
绝佳 (絕佳)	jué jiā	exceptionally good

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.