Chinese symbol for “swallow”
吞
tūn
to swallow; to take
The closest CC-CEDICT match for swallow is 吞 (tūn), defined as: to swallow; to take.
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 “swallow”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 吞噬 | tūn shì | to swallow; to engulf |
| 燕子 | yàn zi | swallow |
| 燕 | yàn | swallow (family Hirundinidae); old variant of 宴 (yàn) |
| 咽 (嚥) | yàn | to swallow |
| 咽下 (嚥下) | yàn xià | to swallow |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 吞.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 吞噬 | tūn shì | to swallow; to engulf |
| 吞并 (吞併) | tūn bìng | to annex |
| 吞吐量 | tūn tǔ liàng | throughput |
| 侵吞 | qīn tūn | to annex; to swallow (up) |
| 吞没 (吞沒) | tūn mò | to embezzle; to swallow up |
| 忍气吞声 (忍氣吞聲) | rěn qì tūn shēng | to submit to humiliation (idiom); to suffer in silence; to swallow one's anger |
See also: Japanese symbol for “swallow”.
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.