CHINESE SYMBOLS AND TATTOOS
Making sentences from Chinese symbols

CHINESE SYMBOLS AND TATTOOS

People who are thinking of getting a tattoo of a Chinese symbol are often curious whether they can make up short sentences from individual symbols. For example, if they piece together the symbols for the words "love" and "mother" and tattoo them onto their skin. This short sentence would actually make sense grammatically but would be kind of weird for a native Chinese speaker to see this tattooed on your back. It would be still better to have one of these symbols as a tattoo separately. Or both symbols on your two arms, symmetrically. In this way you would not be making sentences but creating a symmetrical design.

But in many cases the symbols pieced together would make no sense. Often you cannot make up sentences without knowing the grammar. These are the worst kinds of tattoos, with gibberish Chinese. Therefore, it is better not to start constructing Chinese sentences on your own because the project can backfire. After all, you are going to live with your tattoo for years. It is much easier to ask someone who knows about the language and then proceed with the tattooing. Or to buy a complete design. Stephen Bekes The Origins of Chinese writing Direction of Chinese tattoos Chinese symbols for tattoos Mistakes in Chinese tattoos Chinese symbols - How many are of them? Chinese symbols - Letters or Pictures? Chinese writing - Symbols or alphabet? Pictographs versus letters The Chinese zodiac Origins of kanji The Chinese alphabet The non-ideographic nature of Chinese writing Get your favorite kanji Why are Chinese symbols popular? In search of the Chinese alphabet Number of symbols in Chinese names Goddess of Mercy good luck plaque Funniest Chinese subtitles