Chinese Tattoo Character - Romantic Love

Jess sent in the confirmation request below with the image:

"I was told that the symbol means love but I have been to other tattoist since and they don't have this one. It is in my wrist. I have since had my name put underneath it!"

Hi Jess,

This is the Simplified Chinese character for "to love" or "to feel attached to" specifically in a romantic sense, and not, say, the love for your parents, your siblings, for your pets, or for the world, but for a romantic partner who you're in love with.

Since this "love" is considered a specific kind of love, it's not surprising that you can't find it at the tattoo parlor sample books, which (as seen on this blog) aren't full proof when it comes to getting the correct Chinese characters.

However, adding your name under this existing "romantic love" tattoo would imply that one is "in love with [name; namely oneself]". It isn't an ideal design, but as far as acccuracy goes, your Chinese character tattoo is correctly written.

Hope that makes sense.

---

More on the Simplified Chinese character for 恋: http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E6%81%8B

3 Chinese Tattoo Characters - A Matter of Symbol Placement

Regina sent in this Chinese tattoo confirmation with the message and attachment below:

"My tattoo is 3 characters long. The first character is supposed to be eternal, the second one is supposed to be love and the third one is supposed to be happiness. Mine is between my shoulder baldes and my husband has a matching one on his stomach."

Hi Regina,

Individually they do mean what you mentioned. I say "individually" because of the positioning of the three words - which when read in Chinese sounds directly translated from English (it's not authentic to have 3 words next to each other that are not part of the same phrase). But this is a common error with Chinese tattoos -- and most often non-speakers get them as personal reminders. And I bet that no Chinese person will ever say "that's wrong".

The word "eternal" is more commonly seen with 2 characters.

But the good news is, none of the characters themselves are wrong. Although, on the word "happiness", I'd suggest that you go back to the parlor and add a dot - like the second character on http://chineseculture.about.com/library/symbol/blcc_happiness.htm . It's probably the font and the drawing of the design that made it disappear. But without the dot, the character is technically incorrect (i.e. kind of like spelling the English word "happiness" with one p).

Love - Mirror-Imaged

Sabrina sent me this Chinese tattoo confirmation with the following:

"Meaning - Love.
Tattoo is on my wrist and not near any others."

Hi Sabrina,

This appears to be a mirror-imaged version of the character for "love". Although it would be understood by most, it is not correct in Kanji nor in Chinese. (i.e. imagine the English word "love" but spelled backwards and the letter "e" mirror imaged).

* If your camera/computer happened to mirror the image, and the tattoo is actually the reverse of the image you sent, then you're okay.

To avoid getting a mirror-imaged Chinese tattoo, it's a good idea to consult a native Chinese speaker beforehand, or even ask at your local Chinese restaurant. Many Chinese people would be happy to help, provided that you have done your homework and are on the right track.