Chinese symbol for “tongue”
舌头
shé tou
Traditional: 舌頭
tongue; 个 (gè); enemy soldier captured for the purpose of extracting information
The closest CC-CEDICT match for tongue is 舌头 (shé tou), defined as: tongue; 个 (gè); enemy soldier captured for the purpose of extracting information.
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 “tongue”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 舌 | shé | tongue |
| 脷 | lì | (cattle) tongue (Cantonese) |
| 口条 (口條) | kǒu tiáo | (ox etc) tongue (as food); (dialect) elocution; articulation |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 舌头.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 饶舌 (饒舌) | ráo shé | talkative; to blather |
| 喉舌 | hóu shé | mouthpiece; spokesperson |
| 瞠目结舌 (瞠目結舌) | chēng mù jié shé | (idiom) dumbfounded; flabbergasted; stunned |
| 口舌 | kǒu shé | dispute or misunderstanding caused by gossip; to talk sb round |
| 舌尖 | shé jiān | tip of tongue; apical |
| 头发 (頭髮) | tóu fa | hair (on the head) |
| 街头 (街頭) | jiē tóu | street |
| 镜头 (鏡頭) | jìng tóu | camera lens; camera shot (in a movie etc) |
See also: Japanese symbol for “tongue”.
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.