Chinese symbol for “toil”
劳
láo
Traditional: 勞
(bound form) to toil; labor; (bound form) laborer; (bound form) meritorious deed; (bound form) fatigue
The closest CC-CEDICT match for toil is 劳 (láo), defined as: (bound form) to toil; labor; (bound form) laborer; (bound form) meritorious deed; (bound form) fatigue; to put sb to the trouble (of doing sth); (bound form) to express appreciation for sb's efforts (Taiwan pr. [lao4]).
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
Traditional forms
Other Chinese words for “toil”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 劳苦 (勞苦) | láo kǔ | to toil; hard work |
| 苦劳 (苦勞) | kǔ láo | toil; hard work |
| 劳动 (勞動) | láo dòng | work; toil |
| 劳累 (勞累) | láo lèi | tired; exhausted |
| 劳碌 (勞碌) | láo lù | to work hard; to toil |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 劳.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 劳动 (勞動) | láo dòng | work; toil |
| 劳动力 (勞動力) | láo dòng lì | labor force; manpower |
| 劳工 (勞工) | láo gōng | labor; laborer |
| 劳动者 (勞動者) | láo dòng zhě | worker; laborer |
| 劳务 (勞務) | láo wù | service (work done for money); services (as in "goods and services") |
| 勤劳 (勤勞) | qín láo | hardworking; industrious; diligent |
See also: Japanese symbol for “toil”.
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.