Chinese symbol for “valerian”

缬草

xié cǎo

Traditional: 纈草

valerian (Valeriana officinalis)

The closest CC-CEDICT match for valerian is 缬草 (xié cǎo), defined as: valerian (Valeriana officinalis).

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

缬 xié

knot; to tie a knot

radical 120 ⽷ · 15 strokes

草 cǎo

grass, herbs; straw, thatch

radical 140 ⾋ · 10 strokes

Traditional forms

纈 xié

Related words

Other words that share a character with 缬草.

Word	Pinyin	Meaning
缬氨酸 (纈氨酸)	xié ān suān	valine (Val), an essential amino acid
草案	cǎo àn	draft (legislation, proposal etc)
草原	cǎo yuán	grassland; prairie
烟草 (煙草)	yān cǎo	tobacco
起草	qǐ cǎo	to make a draft; to draw up (plans)
草莓	cǎo méi	strawberry; 颗 (kē)
草根	cǎo gēn	grass roots (lit. and fig.)

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.