Chinese symbol for “thought”
思想
sī xiǎng
thought; thinking; idea; ideology
The closest CC-CEDICT match for thought is 思想 (sī xiǎng), defined as: thought; thinking; idea; ideology; 个 (gè).
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 “thought”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 思维 (思維) | sī wéi | (line of) thought; thinking |
| 念头 (念頭) | niàn tou | thought; idea; intention |
| 意 | yì | (bound form) idea; thought; meaning; sense; (bound form) intention; feeling; inclination; state of mind |
| 精神 | jīng shén | spirit; mind |
| 观念 (觀念) | guān niàn | notion; thought |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 思想.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 意思 | yì si | idea; opinion |
| 思考 | sī kǎo | to reflect on; to ponder over |
| 思维 (思維) | sī wéi | (line of) thought; thinking |
| 有意思 | yǒu yì si | interesting; meaningful |
| 反思 | fǎn sī | to think back over sth; to review |
| 想要 | xiǎng yào | to want to; to feel like |
| 不想 | bù xiǎng | unexpectedly; to one's surprise |
| 想到 | xiǎng dào | to think of; to call to mind |
See also: Japanese symbol for “thought”.
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.