King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Chinese symbol for “vain”

臭美
chòu měi
greatly pleased with oneself; vain; conceited (used as an insult or teasingly)

The closest CC-CEDICT match for vain is 臭美 (chòu měi), defined as: greatly pleased with oneself; vain; conceited (used as an insult or teasingly).

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

臭 chòu
to reek, to smell, to stink
radical 132 ⾃ · 10 strokes
美 měi
beautiful, pretty; pleasing
radical 123 ⽺ · 9 strokes

Other Chinese words for “vain”

WordPinyinMeaning
空头 (空頭)kōng tóuphony; so-called
爱慕虚荣 (愛慕虛榮)ài mù xū róngvain

Related words

Other words that share a character with 臭美.

WordPinyinMeaning
恶臭 (惡臭)è chòustink; stench; stinky; smelly
臭味chòu wèibad smell; foul odor
臭氧chòu yǎngozone (O₃)
臭虫 (臭蟲)chòu chóngbedbug (Cimex lectularius); tick
臭名昭著chòu míng zhāo zhùnotorious; infamous
臭豆腐chòu dòu fustinky tofu; strong-smelling preserved beancurd
美元měi yuánAmerican dollar; US dollar
美丽 (美麗)měi lìbeautiful

See also: Japanese symbol for “vain”.

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.