Chinese symbol for “virtuous”
贤淑
xián shū
Traditional: 賢淑
(of a woman) virtuous
The closest CC-CEDICT match for virtuous is 贤淑 (xián shū), defined as: (of a woman) virtuous.
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
Traditional forms
Other Chinese words for “virtuous”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 令 | lìng | to order; to command |
| 良性 | liáng xìng | positive (in its effect); leading to good consequences |
| 有德行 | yǒu dé xíng | virtuous |
| 腆 | tiǎn | make strong (as liquors); virtuous |
| 懿 | yì | (literary) exemplary; virtuous |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 贤淑.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 圣贤 (聖賢) | shèng xián | a sage; wise and holy man |
| 先贤 (先賢) | xiān xián | (literary) ancient sage |
| 贤惠 (賢惠) | xián huì | variant of 贤慧 (xián huì) |
| 贤能 (賢能) | xián néng | sage |
| 贤人 (賢人) | xián rén | great person of the past; venerable forebear |
| 贤良 (賢良) | xián liáng | (of a man) able and virtuous |
| 淑女 | shū nǚ | wise and virtuous woman; lady |
| 遇人不淑 | yù rén bù shū | (idiom) to be in a relationship with or marry a bad person; (idiom) to associate with a bad person |
See also: Japanese symbol for “virtuous”.
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.