King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Chinese symbol for “thorns”

棘
jí
thorns

The closest CC-CEDICT match for thorns is 棘 (jí), defined as: thorns.

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

棘 jí
jujube tree; thorns, brambles
radical 75 ⽊ · 12 strokes

Related words

Other words that share a character with 棘.

WordPinyinMeaning
棘手jí shǒuthorny (problem); intractable
荆棘 (荊棘)jīng jíthistles and thorns; brambles
披荆斩棘 (披荊斬棘)pī jīng zhǎn jílit. to cut one's way through thistles and thorns (idiom); fig. to overcome all obstacles on the way
沙棘shā jí(botany) sea buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides)
棘轮 (棘輪)jí lúnratchet
棘皮动物 (棘皮動物)jí pí dòng wùechinoderm, the phylum containing sea urchins, sea cucumbers etc

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.

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