Chinese symbol for “three”
三
sān
three; 3
The closest CC-CEDICT match for three is 三 (sān), defined as: three; 3.
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 “three”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 叁 (參) | sān | three (banker's anti-fraud numeral) |
| 仨 | sā | three (colloquial equivalent of 三個|三个) |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 三.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 三星 | sān xīng | three major stars of the Three Stars 参宿 (Shēn xiù) Chinese constellation; the belt of Orion |
| 三次 | sān cì | third; three times |
| 三级 (三級) | sān jí | grade 3; third class |
| 十三 | shí sān | thirteen; 13 |
| 三分 | sān fēn | somewhat; to some degree |
| 第三方 | dì sān fāng | third party |
See also: Japanese symbol for “three”.
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.