Chinese symbol for “tangle”
缠
chán
Traditional: 纏
to wind around; to wrap round; to coil; tangle
The closest CC-CEDICT match for tangle is 缠 (chán), defined as: to wind around; to wrap round; to coil; tangle; to involve; to bother.
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
Traditional forms
Related words
Other words that share a character with 缠.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 纠缠 (糾纏) | jiū chán | to be in a tangle; to nag |
| 缠身 (纏身) | chán shēn | (of an illness, debt etc) to plague one; to bog one down; to preoccupy one |
| 缠绕 (纏繞) | chán rào | twisting; to twine |
| 缠绵 (纏綿) | chán mián | touching (emotions); lingering (illness) |
| 难缠 (難纏) | nán chán | (usu. of people) difficult; demanding |
| 缠足 (纏足) | chán zú | foot-binding |
See also: Japanese symbol for “tangle”.
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.