Chinese symbol for “suffer”
遭
zāo
to suffer; to meet with (usu. misfortune); classifier for events: time, turn, incident
The closest CC-CEDICT match for suffer is 遭 (zāo), defined as: to suffer; to meet with (usu. misfortune); classifier for events: time, turn, incident.
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 “suffer”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 遭到 | zāo dào | to suffer; to meet with (sth unfortunate) |
| 遭受 | zāo shòu | to suffer; to sustain (loss, misfortune) |
| 患 | huàn | to suffer (from illness); to contract (a disease) |
| 挨 | ái | to suffer; to endure; to pull through (hard times) |
| 惨遭 (慘遭) | cǎn zāo | to suffer (defeat, death etc) |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 遭.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 遭到 | zāo dào | to suffer; to meet with (sth unfortunate) |
| 遭遇 | zāo yù | to meet with; to encounter (esp. misfortune or hardship); an experience (esp. adverse) |
| 遭受 | zāo shòu | to suffer; to sustain (loss, misfortune) |
| 惨遭 (慘遭) | cǎn zāo | to suffer (defeat, death etc) |
| 周遭 | zhōu zāo | surrounding; nearby |
| 遭拒 | zāo jù | to meet with a refusal (e.g. visa); to have an application rejected |
See also: Japanese symbol for “suffer”.
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.