Chinese symbol for “whimper”
呜咽
wū yè
Traditional: 嗚咽
to sob; to whimper
The closest CC-CEDICT match for whimper is 呜咽 (wū yè), defined as: to sob; to whimper.
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 “whimper”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 吭哧 | kēng chi | to puff and blow; to whimper |
| 咧咧 | liē liē | (dialect) to cry; to whimper; (dialect) to talk drivel |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 呜咽.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 呜呜 (嗚嗚) | wū wū | (interj) boo hoo |
| 呜呼 (嗚呼) | wū hū | alas; alack |
| 一命呜呼 (一命嗚呼) | yī mìng wū hū | to die (idiom); to breathe one's last |
| 呜呼哀哉 (嗚呼哀哉) | wū hū āi zāi | alas; all is lost |
| 呜呜祖拉 (嗚嗚祖拉) | wū wū zǔ lā | vuvuzela (horn) (loanword) |
| 咽喉 | yān hóu | throat |
| 哽咽 | gěng yè | to choke with emotion; to choke with sobs |
| 咽下 (嚥下) | yàn xià | to swallow |
See also: Japanese symbol for “whimper”.
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.