Chinese symbol for “unfortunate”
不幸
bù xìng
misfortune; adversity; unfortunate; sad
The closest CC-CEDICT match for unfortunate is 不幸 (bù xìng), defined as: misfortune; adversity; unfortunate; sad; unfortunately; 个 (gè).
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 “unfortunate”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 苦命 | kǔ mìng | hard lot; bitter fate |
| 蹇 | jiǎn | lame; cripple |
| 悲催 | bēi cuī | (slang) miserable; wretched; unfortunate (often humorous or self-deprecating) |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 不幸.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 不是 | bù shì | no; is not |
| 不能 | bù néng | cannot; must not |
| 不会 (不會) | bù huì | improbable; unlikely |
| 不过 (不過) | bù guò | only; merely |
| 不同 | bù tóng | different; distinct |
| 幸福 | xìng fú | happiness; happy |
| 幸运 (幸運) | xìng yùn | fortunate; lucky; good fortune; luck |
| 幸好 | xìng hǎo | fortunately |
See also: Japanese symbol for “unfortunate”.
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.