Chinese symbol for “thief”
贼
zéi
Traditional: 賊
thief; robber; (bound form) traitor; subversive; (bound form) evil; wicked; sly; shifty; devious
The closest CC-CEDICT match for thief is 贼 (zéi), defined as: thief; robber; (bound form) traitor; subversive; (bound form) evil; wicked; sly; shifty; devious; (literary) to harm; to injure; (coll.) extremely; insanely; damn (common in NE China and Taiwan).
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 “thief”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 小偷 | xiǎo tōu | thief |
| 大盗 (大盜) | dà dào | thief; bandit (esp. one who has gained notoriety) |
| 窃贼 (竊賊) | qiè zéi | thief |
| 宵小 | xiāo xiǎo | thief; bandit |
| 毛贼 (毛賊) | máo zéi | thief |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 贼.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 盗贼 (盜賊) | dào zéi | robber |
| 卖国贼 (賣國賊) | mài guó zéi | traitor |
| 海贼 (海賊) | hǎi zéi | pirate |
| 国贼 (國賊) | guó zéi | traitor to the nation |
| 反贼 (反賊) | fǎn zéi | (imperial China) rebel; traitor; (post-1949) enemy of the state; counter-revolutionary |
| 乌贼 (烏賊) | wū zéi | cuttlefish |
See also: Japanese symbol for “thief”.
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.