Chinese symbol for “thistle”
荼
tú
thistle; common sowthistle (Sonchus oleraceus); bitter (taste); cruel
The closest CC-CEDICT match for thistle is 荼 (tú), defined as: thistle; common sowthistle (Sonchus oleraceus); bitter (taste); cruel; flowering grass in profusion.
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 “thistle”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 蓟 (薊) | jì | cirsium; thistle |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 荼.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 如火如荼 | rú huǒ rú tú | like wildfire (idiom); unstoppable |
| 荼毒 | tú dú | (literary) to cause great suffering |
| 曼荼罗 (曼荼羅) | màn tú luó | (Buddhism) (loanword from Sanskrit) mandala |
| 秋荼密网 (秋荼密網) | qiū tú mì wǎng | flowering autumn grass, fine net (idiom); fig. abundant and exacting punishments prescribed by law |
| 荼毒生灵 (荼毒生靈) | tú dú shēng líng | to torment the people (idiom) |
| 食荼卧棘 (食荼臥棘) | shí tú wò jí | to eat bitter fruit and lie on thorns (idiom); to share the hard life of the common people |
See also: Japanese symbol for “thistle”.
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.