King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Chinese symbol for “tier”

线
xiàn
Traditional: 線
thread; string; wire; line

The closest CC-CEDICT match for tier is 线 (xiàn), defined as: thread; string; wire; line; 条 (tiáo),股 (gǔ),根 (gēn); (after a number) tier (unofficial ranking of a Chinese city).

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

线 xiàn
line, thread, wire; clue, trail
radical 120 ⽷ · 8 strokes

Traditional forms

Other Chinese words for “tier”

WordPinyinMeaning
批pīto ascertain; to act on
梯次tī cìechelon; tier; batch (in a sequence); in succession; tier by tier; in batches (according to a set order)
屉 (屜)tìdrawer; tier; tray

Related words

Other words that share a character with 线.

WordPinyinMeaning
路线 (路線)lù xiànitinerary; route
在线 (在線)zài xiànonline; connected to the Internet; (fig.) (coll.) (of a person) mentally focused; engaged; (of skills, performance etc) sharp; on point; fun
线路 (線路)xiàn lù(electricity) line; circuit; wire; (traffic) road; track; route
线上 (線上)xiàn shàngonline
一线 (一線)yī xiànfront line; front-line position; a ray of; a glimmer of (hope, light etc)
前线 (前線)qián xiànfront line; military front

See also: Japanese symbol for “tier”.

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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