Chinese Tattoo 毅: Meaning, Strokes & Design Guide
The character 毅 means "resolute, decisive, firm, persist" and is pronounced yì. Below: its structure, the words it appears in, and how it works as a tattoo.
Quick facts
| Character | 毅 |
| Pinyin | yì |
| Meaning | resolute, decisive, firm, persist |
| Strokes | 15 |
| Radical | ⽎ (No. 79) |
Words that contain 毅
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | HSK |
|---|---|---|---|
| 毅力 | yì lì | perseverance | newest-7 |
| 毅然 | yì rán | firmly | newest-7 |
| 刚毅 | gāng yì | resolute | new-7 |
| 坚毅 | jian1 yi4 | firm and persistent | — |
Words and levels: HSK vocabulary list · meanings: CC-CEDICT.
Placing 毅
毅 runs to 15 strokes, which is dense for a single character. At small sizes the inner strokes close up and the character stops being readable — this one wants a larger placement (upper back, thigh, forearm) rather than a wrist or ankle. Tell your artist the intended size before the stencil is cut, because a design that reads at 8 cm can collapse at 4 cm. Bring the stencil together with the pinyin and the meaning, and ask the artist to follow the stencil rather than redrawing the character freehand — freehand redrawing is the most common way a correct character loses a stroke and becomes a different one.
Design notes for 毅
毅 appears both on its own and inside compounds, so the sense depends on context; here it reads “resolute, decisive, firm, persist”. Regular script (楷书) keeps every stroke countable, which matters when a Chinese reader checks it. Avoid mirroring or rotating the character, and avoid very fine or cursive styles at small sizes, where strokes merge into a shape that reads as a different character.
Frequently asked questions
What does 毅 mean?
毅 (yì) means “resolute, decisive, firm, persist”.
How is 毅 pronounced?
毅 is pronounced yì in Mandarin.
How many strokes does 毅 have?
毅 has 15 strokes, under the ⽎ radical (No. 79).
How large should a 毅 tattoo be?
With 15 strokes, 毅 is moderately dense — it stays legible from roughly 4–5 cm upward. Shrinking it below that risks the strokes merging.
Which style works for 毅?
Bold regular script (楷书) keeps the strokes clear. Semi-cursive (行书) adds flow but softens edges. Seal script looks classical but is harder for most readers to verify — use it only if a native reader has confirmed the rendering.
Is 毅 common in modern Chinese?
It appears in everyday words such as 毅力、毅然、刚毅, though it is more often used inside compounds than alone.
Should I use simplified or traditional 毅?
毅 is written the same in simplified and traditional Chinese, so there is no form to choose.
Want 毅 as a ready-to-use stencil with a native-checked meaning card, sized for your tattoo artist?
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Character data: Unihan (Unicode) · words: HSK vocabulary & CC-CEDICT · How we verify this