Chinese symbol for “tell”
告诉
gào su
Traditional: 告訴
to tell; to inform; to let know
The closest CC-CEDICT match for tell is 告诉 (gào su), defined as: to tell; to inform; to let know.
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
Other Chinese words for “tell”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 吩咐 | fēn fu | to tell; to instruct; to command |
| 吐露 | tǔ lù | to tell; to disclose |
| 告 | gào | (bound form) to say; to tell; to announce; to report |
| 述 | shù | (bound form) to state; to tell; to narrate; to relate |
| 辨别 (辨別) | biàn bié | to distinguish; to differentiate; to discern; to recognize; to tell |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 告诉.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 报告 (報告) | bào gào | to inform; to report |
| 广告 (廣告) | guǎng gào | to advertise; a commercial |
| 警告 | jǐng gào | to warn; to admonish |
| 公告 | gōng gào | post; announcement |
| 起诉 (起訴) | qǐ sù | to sue; to bring a lawsuit against |
| 诉讼 (訴訟) | sù sòng | lawsuit |
| 投诉 (投訴) | tóu sù | to lodge a complaint |
| 上诉 (上訴) | shàng sù | to appeal (a judicial case); appeal |
See also: Japanese symbol for “tell”.
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.