King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Chinese symbol for “yeast”

酵母
jiào mǔ
yeast; saccharomycete (abbr. for 酵母菌 (jiào mǔ jūn))

The closest CC-CEDICT match for yeast is 酵母 (jiào mǔ), defined as: yeast; saccharomycete (abbr. for 酵母菌 (jiào mǔ jūn)).

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

酵 jiào
yeast; to leaven
radical 164 ⾣ · 14 strokes
母 mǔ
mother; female elders; female
radical 80 ⽏ · 5 strokes

Other Chinese words for “yeast”

WordPinyinMeaning
酵jiàoyeast; leaven; fermentation
酵母菌jiào mǔ jūnyeast; saccharomycete
酴túyeast
酿母菌 (釀母菌)niàng mǔ jūnyeast

Related words

Other words that share a character with 酵母.

WordPinyinMeaning
发酵 (發酵)fā jiàoto ferment; (fig.) (of trends, emotions or repercussions etc) to bubble away; to simmer; to develop
酵素jiào sùenzyme
酵母菌jiào mǔ jūnyeast; saccharomycete
糖酵解táng jiào jiěglycolysis (anaerobic metabolism of glucose)
酵母醇jiào mǔ chúnzymosterol
母亲 (母親)mǔ qīnmother
父母fù mǔfather and mother; parents
字母zì mǔletter (of the alphabet); 个 (gè)

See also: Japanese symbol for “yeast”.

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.