Chinese Tattoo 水: Meaning, Strokes & Design Guide
The character 水 means "water, liquid, lotion, juice" and is pronounced shuǐ. Below: its structure, the words it appears in, and how it works as a tattoo.
Quick facts
| Character | 水 |
| Pinyin | shuǐ |
| Meaning | water, liquid, lotion, juice |
| Strokes | 4 |
| Radical | ⽔ (No. 85) |
| HSK level | newest-1 |
Words that contain 水
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | HSK |
|---|---|---|---|
| 水平 | shuǐ píng | level (of achievement etc) | newest-3 |
| 水果 | shuǐ guǒ | fruit | newest-1 |
| 香水 | xiāng shuǐ | perfume | newest-6 |
| 水泥 | shuǐ ní | cement | newest-6 |
| 水晶 | shuǐ jīng | crystal | newest-7 |
| 水面 | shuǐ miàn | water surface | newest-6 |
Words and levels: HSK vocabulary list · meanings: CC-CEDICT.
Characters sharing the ⽔ radical
All of these share the ⽔ radical, so they are visually related — useful when you compare designs.
Placing 水
水 is only 4 strokes, so it stays readable even small — but a simple character shows every wobble. There is nowhere to hide a shaky line here, so line weight and steady spacing matter more than with a dense character. 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 水
水 appears both on its own and inside compounds, so the sense depends on context; here it reads “water, liquid, lotion, juice”. 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 水 mean?
水 (shuǐ) means “water, liquid, lotion, juice”.
How is 水 pronounced?
水 is pronounced shuǐ in Mandarin.
How many strokes does 水 have?
水 has 4 strokes, under the ⽔ radical (No. 85).
How large should a 水 tattoo be?
With 4 strokes, 水 is open and holds detail well even at small sizes.
Which style works for 水?
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 水 common in modern Chinese?
Yes — 水 appears as a standalone HSK vocabulary item (newest-1), and in everyday words such as 水平、水果、香水.
Should I use simplified or traditional 水?
水 is written the same in simplified and traditional Chinese, so there is no form to choose.
Want 水 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