Chinese symbol for “zigzag”
蜿蜒
wān yán
(of a snake) to wriggle along; (of a river etc) to zigzag; to meander; to wind
The closest CC-CEDICT match for zigzag is 蜿蜒 (wān yán), defined as: (of a snake) to wriggle along; (of a river etc) to zigzag; to meander; to wind.
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 “zigzag”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 之字形 | zhī zì xíng | Z-shaped; zigzag |
| 蛇行 | shé xíng | to creep; to zigzag |
| 锯齿形 (鋸齒形) | jù chǐ xíng | sawtooth shape; zigzag |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 蜿蜒.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 蚰蜒 | yóu yán | house centipede |
| 蚰蜒路 | yóu yan lù | lit. centipede's path; fig. narrow winding road |
| 蜒蚰 | yán yóu | (dialect) a slug |
| 蜗蜒 (蝸蜒) | wō yán | snail |
See also: Japanese symbol for “zigzag”.
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.