Chinese symbol for “temporary”
暂时
zàn shí
Traditional: 暫時
temporary; provisional; for the time being
The closest CC-CEDICT match for temporary is 暂时 (zàn shí), defined as: temporary; provisional; for the time being.
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 “temporary”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 暂 (暫) | zàn | temporary; Taiwan pr. [zhan4] |
| 行 | xíng | (bound form) to walk; to go; to travel; (literary) trip; journey; visit |
| 权 (權) | quán | authority; power |
| 临时 (臨時) | lín shí | as the time draws near; at the last moment |
| 一时 (一時) | yī shí | a period of time; a while |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 暂时.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 暂停 (暫停) | zàn tíng | to suspend; time-out (e.g. in sports) |
| 短暂 (短暫) | duǎn zàn | of short duration; brief; momentary |
| 暂缓 (暫緩) | zàn huǎn | to postpone |
| 暂行 (暫行) | zàn xíng | provisional |
| 暂且 (暫且) | zàn qiě | for now; for the time being; temporarily |
| 时间 (時間) | shí jiān | (concept of) time; (duration of) time |
| 时候 (時候) | shí hou | time; length of time |
| 同时 (同時) | tóng shí | at the same time; simultaneously |
See also: Japanese symbol for “temporary”.
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.