Chinese symbol for “wretched”
寒酸
hán suān
wretched; poverty-stricken; unpresentable (for clothing, gifts etc)
The closest CC-CEDICT match for wretched is 寒酸 (hán suān), defined as: wretched; poverty-stricken; unpresentable (for clothing, gifts etc).
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
Other Chinese words for “wretched”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 惨 (慘) | cǎn | miserable; wretched |
| 该死 (該死) | gāi sǐ | Damn it!; damned |
| 凄楚 (悽楚) | qī chǔ | sad; wretched; miserable |
| 可怜兮兮 (可憐兮兮) | kě lián xī xī | miserable; wretched |
| 狈 (狽) | bèi | a legendary wolf; distressed |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 寒酸.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 寒冷 | hán lěng | cold (climate); frigid |
| 寒冬 | hán dōng | cold winter |
| 严寒 (嚴寒) | yán hán | bitter cold; severe winter |
| 寒假 | hán jià | winter vacation |
| 寒流 | hán liú | cold air current; cold ocean current |
| 寒风 (寒風) | hán fēng | cold wind |
| 氨基酸 | ān jī suān | amino acid |
| 酸性 | suān xìng | acidity |
See also: Japanese symbol for “wretched”.
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.