Chinese symbol for “unfortunately”
The closest CC-CEDICT match for unfortunately is 偏偏 (piān piān), defined as: (indicating that sth turns out just the opposite of what one would wish) unfortunately; as it happened; (indicating that sth is the opposite of what would be normal or reasonable) stubbornly; contrarily; against reason; (indicating that sb or a group is singled out) precisely; only; of all people.
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 “unfortunately”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 可惜 | kě xī | it is a pity; what a pity |
| 不幸 | bù xìng | misfortune; adversity |
| 吃亏 (吃虧) | chī kuī | to suffer losses; to come to grief |
| 不巧 | bù qiǎo | too bad; unfortunately |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 偏偏.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 偏见 (偏見) | piān jiàn | prejudice; bias |
| 偏向 | piān xiàng | partial towards sth; to prefer |
| 偏离 (偏離) | piān lí | to deviate; to diverge |
| 偏好 | piān hào | to have a special liking (for sth) |
| 偏差 | piān chā | deviation; bias |
See also: Japanese symbol for “unfortunately”.
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.