Chinese symbol for “unless”
除非
chú fēi
only if (..., or otherwise, ...); only when; only in the case that; unless
The closest CC-CEDICT match for unless is 除非 (chú fēi), defined as: only if (..., or otherwise, ...); only when; only in the case that; unless.
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 除非.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 除了 | chú le | apart from; besides; in addition to (used to exclude, as in 除了他，誰也沒來|除了他，谁也没来[chu2 le5 ta1 , shei2 ye3 mei2 lai2] "apart from him, nobody ca |
| 废除 (廢除) | fèi chú | to abolish; to abrogate |
| 删除 (刪除) | shān chú | to delete; to cancel |
| 解除 | jiě chú | to remove; to sack |
| 消除 | xiāo chú | to eliminate; to remove |
| 非常 | fēi cháng | very; really; unusual; extraordinary |
| 非法 | fēi fǎ | illegal |
| 并非 (並非) | bìng fēi | really isn't |
See also: Japanese symbol for “unless”.
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.