Chinese symbol for “thorn”
刺
cì
thorn; sting; thrust; to prick
The closest CC-CEDICT match for thorn is 刺 (cì), defined as: thorn; sting; thrust; to prick; to pierce; to stab.
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 “thorn”
Related words
Other words that share a character with 刺.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 刺激 | cì jī | to provoke; to irritate; to upset; to stimulate; to excite; irritant |
| 讽刺 (諷刺) | fěng cì | to satirize; to mock |
| 刺杀 (刺殺) | cì shā | to assassinate; (military) to fight with a bayonet |
| 刺客 | cì kè | assassin |
| 遇刺 | yù cì | to be attacked by an assassin |
| 刺史 | cì shǐ | provincial governor (old) |
See also: Japanese symbol for “thorn”.
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.