King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Chinese symbol for “sullen”

忧郁
yōu yù
Traditional: 憂鬱
sullen; depressed; melancholy; dejected

The closest CC-CEDICT match for sullen is 忧郁 (yōu yù), defined as: sullen; depressed; melancholy; dejected.

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

忧 yōu
sad, grieving; melancholy, grief
radical 61 ⼼ · 7 strokes
郁 yù
melancholy; dense growth
radical 163 ⾢ · 9 strokes

Traditional forms

Other Chinese words for “sullen”

WordPinyinMeaning
憋屈biē qūsullen
愠怒 (慍怒)yùn nùinwardly angry; indignant

Related words

Other words that share a character with 忧郁.

WordPinyinMeaning
担忧 (擔憂)dān yōuto worry; to be concerned
忧虑 (憂慮)yōu lǜto worry; anxiety (about)
忧伤 (憂傷)yōu shāngdistressed; laden with grief
忧心 (憂心)yōu xīnconcerned; worried
忧愁 (憂愁)yōu chóuto be worried
郁闷 (鬱悶)yù mèngloomy; depressed
抑郁 (抑鬱)yì yùdepressed; despondent; gloomy
浓郁 (濃郁)nóng yùrich; strong

See also: Japanese symbol for “sullen”.

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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