Chinese symbol for “sudden”
突然
tū rán
sudden; abrupt; unexpected
The closest CC-CEDICT match for sudden is 突然 (tū rán), defined as: sudden; abrupt; unexpected.
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 “sudden”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 暴 | bào | sudden; violent |
| 骤 (驟) | zhòu | sudden; unexpected |
| 急剧 (急劇) | jí jù | rapid; sudden |
| 倏 | shū | sudden; abrupt |
| 突 | tū | to dash; to move forward quickly |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 突然.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 冲突 (衝突) | chōng tū | conflict; to conflict |
| 突破 | tū pò | to break through; to make a breakthrough |
| 突出 | tū chū | prominent; outstanding |
| 突击 (突擊) | tū jī | sudden and violent attack; assault |
| 突发 (突發) | tū fā | to occur suddenly |
| 虽然 (雖然) | suī rán | although; even though (often used correlatively with 可是 (kě shì) or 但是 (dàn shì) etc) |
| 然后 (然後) | rán hòu | then; after that; afterwards |
| 当然 (當然) | dāng rán | only natural; as it should be |
See also: Japanese symbol for “sudden”.
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.