King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Chinese symbol for “wavering”

摇摆不定
yáo bǎi bù dìng
Traditional: 搖擺不定
indecisive; wavering

The closest CC-CEDICT match for wavering is 摇摆不定 (yáo bǎi bù dìng), defined as: indecisive; wavering.

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

摇 yáo
to rock, to shake; to swing, to wave
radical 64 ⼿ · 13 strokes
摆 bǎi
to arrange, to display; pendulum, swing
radical 64 ⼿ · 13 strokes
不 bù
no, not, un-; negative prefix
radical 1 ⼀ · 4 strokes
定 dìng
to decide, to fix, to settle; to order; definite, fixed, sure
radical 40 ⼧ · 8 strokes

Traditional forms

Other Chinese words for “wavering”

WordPinyinMeaning
惺忪xīng sōngdrowsy-eyed; (literary) wavering; indecisive

Related words

Other words that share a character with 摇摆不定.

WordPinyinMeaning
动摇 (動搖)dòng yáoto sway; to waver
摇滚 (搖滾)yáo gǔnrock 'n' roll (music); to rock
摇晃 (搖晃)yáo huàngto rock; to shake; to sway
摇摆 (搖擺)yáo bǎito sway; to wobble
摇头 (搖頭)yáo tóuto shake one's head
摇篮 (搖籃)yáo láncradle (for a baby); (fig.) cradle; birthplace (of a civilization, movement etc)
摆脱 (擺脫)bǎi tuōto break away from; to cast off (old ideas etc)
摆放 (擺放)bǎi fàngto set up; to arrange; to lay out
不是bù shìno; is not
决定 (決定)jué dìngto decide; to determine; to make up one's mind; decision (个 (gè),项 (xiàng))

See also: Japanese symbol for “wavering”.

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.

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