Chinese symbol for “triads”
The closest CC-CEDICT match for triads is 江湖 (jiāng hú), defined as: rivers and lakes; all corners of the country; remote areas to which hermits retreat; section of society operating independently of mainstream society, out of reach of the law; the milieu in which wuxia tales play out (cf. 武侠 (wǔ xiá)); (in late imperial times) world of traveling merchants, itinerant doctors, fortune tellers etc; demimonde; (in modern times) triads; secret gangster societies; underworld.
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
Related words
Other words that share a character with 江湖.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 江山 | jiāng shān | rivers and mountains; landscape |
| 江河 | jiāng hé | river |
| 沿江 | yán jiāng | along the river; the region around the river |
| 江水 | jiāng shuǐ | river water |
| 江边 (江邊) | jiāng biān | river bank |
| 湖泊 | hú pō | lake |
| 湖边 (湖邊) | hú biān | lakeside |
| 湖畔 | hú pàn | lakeside |
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.