Chinese symbol for “thorny”
棘手
jí shǒu
thorny (problem); intractable
The closest CC-CEDICT match for thorny is 棘手 (jí shǒu), defined as: thorny (problem); intractable.
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 “thorny”
Related words
Other words that share a character with 棘手.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 荆棘 (荊棘) | jīng jí | thistles and thorns; brambles |
| 披荆斩棘 (披荊斬棘) | pī jīng zhǎn jí | lit. 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 lún | ratchet |
| 棘皮动物 (棘皮動物) | jí pí dòng wù | echinoderm, the phylum containing sea urchins, sea cucumbers etc |
| 手机 (手機) | shǒu jī | cell phone; mobile phone; measure word: 部 (bù), 台 (tái) |
| 手段 | shǒu duàn | method; way; means (of doing sth); skill; ability |
| 选手 (選手) | xuǎn shǒu | athlete; contestant |
See also: Japanese symbol for “thorny”.
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.