This is the character for dragon in Chinese, old Korean, and Japanese.

If you were born in the year of the Dragon, you . . .


Have a strong body and spirit.
Are full of energy.
Have vast goals.
Have a deep level of self-awareness.
Will do whatever you can to "save face".

See also our Chinese Zodiac page.

Score: 100/100

This is an alternate form of dragon. Still pronounced the same in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean (this version is more popular in the Japanese language, but generally recognized by most Chinese people - recognized in Korean until 100 years ago).

This particular Kanji is often associated as an imperial symbol as well as representing the mythical Asian dragon. You may have seen it on the chest or flag of the emperor in old Japanese and Chinese movies.

Note: I would rate this as a non-universal alternate form. The other dragon character is by far more common, and universally understood.

Special Japanese note: This is the shinjitai (new character form). Shinjitai Kanji are the result a simplification effort in Japan after WWII. Theoretically, this is the only official way to write "dragon" in modern Japanese. However, virtually all Japanese people recognize the traditional and ancient form.

See Also...  Phoenix | Emperor | King

Score: 100/100

This is pretty self-explanatory. This is the creature of myth and legend that dominates Chinese, Japanese, and even European folklore. In China, the dragon is the symbol of the Emperor, strength and power, and the Chinese dragon is known as the god of water.

See: More Chinese & Japanese Dragon calligraphy & Dragon information.

Score: 100/100

This is not the most common thing to say in Chinese, but it is grammatically correct and a cool title.

The first character means "supernatural or saintly". The second is "dragon". The last two mean protection. You could also translate this as something like "Protected by the Dragon God" or more closely "Holy Dragon".

Score: 100/100

Added by special request of a customer. This phase is natural in Chinese, but it is not a common or ancient title.

The first character is dragon.
The second is a possessive modifier (like making "dragon" into "dragon's").
The third character means home (but in some context can mean "family" - however, here it would generally be understood as "home").

Score: 100/100

Added by special request of a customer...

The first character means gold or golden.
The second and third characters hold the meaning of auspiciousness and good luck.
the fourth character is dragon.
The fifth is a possessive modifier (like making "dragon" into "dragon's").
The last character means home (but in some context can mean "family" - however, here it would generally be understood as "home").

Note: The word order is different than the English title, because of grammar differences between English and Chinese. This phrase sounds very natural in Chinese in this character order. If written in the English word order, it would sound very strange and lose its impact in Chinese.

Note: Korean pronunciation is included above, but this has not been reviewed by a Korean translator.

Score: 100/100

This is often seen at weddings and other celebrations in China. It suggests that he dragon and phoenix will bring you auspicious tidings.

The first character is dragon.
The second is phoenix.
The third is presents or brings.
And the last means auspicious, propitious, or luck.

Score: 100/100

This means the spirit of the dragon and tiger. It speaks to the vitality and vigor that is the nature of these two creatures.

Beyond "spirit", the second two characters can also mean mind, soul, or heart. Therefore, you can also say this means "Heart of the Dragon and Tiger", etc.

This is often titled as "Ryukoseishin" in many Japanese martial arts.

Score: 100/100

You might think this title is in reverse, but actually this is the original idiom. The movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was actually a play on words or order reversal of this old Chinese idiom.

The meaning is that both the tiger and dragon have amazing talents, but if they are out of view, you may have not discovered them. It can be said of someone with amazing ability that keeps that ability hidden.

Score: 100/100

This literally means "little dragon" or "young dragon". This is often used as a given name in Chinese. In fact, Bruce Lee's real given name is "Little Dragon".

Score: 100/100

This is the movie title of the Kung Fu epic that was very popular in the west a few years back. The title is actually a re-ordering of an ancient Chinese idiom that refers to undiscovered talents.

The movie was one of the most popular Chinese foreign films to ever debut in the USA, but received a lukewarm reception in China.

Note: This can be pronounced in Korean, but it's not a commonly-used term.

Score: 100/100

This is the title for a Martial Arts studio (custom-made at by request of the owner of the studio).

Score: 100/100

Characters shown
above are read
vertically, starting
from the right

This is an old phrase that is used to wish someone great health and success combined as a great compliment.

The meaning is "The vigor and spirit of the legendary dragon-horse, and the power and prestige of the tiger".

By giving a wall scroll like this to someone, you were either wishing or telling them that they have these qualities. There is also a suggestion of good health - at least anyone with the vigor of a dragon horse, would seem to also be in good health.

Score: 100/100

This is an old phrase that is used to wish someone good health and success combined as a great compliment.

The meaning is "The vigor and spirit of the legendary dragon-horse". These four characters are often accompanied by four more which mean, "...and the power and prestige of the tiger". Here we are just offering the first part which is considered the short version.

By giving a wall scroll like this to someone, you were either wishing or telling them that they have an amazing quality. There is also a suggestion of good health - at least anyone with the vigor of a dragon horse, would seem to also be in good health.

Score: 100/100

This is a list of the Chinese characters for the five animals of Shaolin Kung Fu in a comfortable order (meaning that they are in the proper order and will simply "feel right" to a Chinese person who views this arrangement).

Score: 100/100

This is a list of the Chinese characters for the five animals of Shaolin Kung Fu in a comfortable order (meaning that they are in the proper order and will simply "feel right" to a Chinese person who views this arrangement).

Score: 100/100

This is how to write dragonfly in Chinese.

Score: 100/100

This is how to write dragonfly in Japanese Kanji.

Score: 100/100

Many people have no idea that Bruce Lee had a "real" Chinese name. In mainland China and Hong Kong he is known as "Li Xiao-Long". He kept his family name pronunciation (Li = Lee). This is a common family name that also means "plum".

His given name "Xiao-Long" literally means "little dragon". This is why you often see the character for dragon associated with Bruce Lee on various posters etc.

For a pronunciation lesson, the "X" in Romanized Chinese is pronounced like a "sh" sound but with your tongue at the bottom of your mouth. The vowel sound in "Long" is like the English "oh", not like the "ah" sound in the English word "long".

If you are a big Bruce Lee fan, you should know this information, and you should have this wall scroll hanging in your room or martial arts studio.

Note: Japanese use these same exact Chinese characters / Kanji to write Bruce Lee's real name (with different pronunciation - which is a bit like how the name "Bruce Lee" sounds in English).

See Also...  Kung Fu | Marital Arts

Score: 53/100

This is the simple, single-character way to write emperor in Chinese and Japanese.

See Also...  Empress | King | Queen

Score: 25/100

From times of old, the emperors of Asia ruled under the authority of God himself. In fact, one definition of an emperor is a ruler put in power by God. This definition separates emperors from the various kings in Chinese history (although defining who is a king versus an emperor gets vague sometimes).

Occasionally, the emperor's wife was widowed, and she took the role of empress until her death (see our entry for empress if that is what you are looking for).

See Also...  Empress | King | Queen

Score: 25/100

This is the simplest way to write "Phoenix" in Chinese. Because dragon is usually expressed as a single character, when you see "dragon and phoenix" written in Chinese, you'll often see this single-character version.

Please note, this is also the male element of phoenix, so it also means "male phoenix bird". However some Chinese people may argue that the phoenix has a female characteristic, regardless of which character you use.

Score: 21/100

This can be translated literally as "Southern School Praying Mantis" or "Southern Style Praying Mantis".

Despite its name, the Southern Praying Mantis style of Chinese martial arts is unrelated to the Northern Praying Mantis style. Southern Praying Mantis is instead related most closely to fellow Hakka styles such as Dragon and more distantly to the Fujian family of styles that includes Fujian White Crane, Five Ancestors, and Wing Chun.

This style of martial arts focuses more on fighting skills rather than aesthetics.

Of course, you already knew that if you were looking for this term.

Note: This title can be pronounced and does have meaning in Korean, but only to Koreans familiar with Chinese martial arts.

Score: 16/100

This word is the title of a mythical beast of Asia.

The animal is thought to be related to the giraffe, and in some ways, it is a giraffe. However, it is often depicted with the horns of a dragon or deer and sometimes with the body like a horse, but many variations exist.

In Japanese it is pronounced “Kirin” as in “Kirin Ichiban” beer.


Notes:

1. This is sometimes spelled as “kylin”.

2. In Japanese, this is the only Kanji word for giraffe. Therefore in Japan, this word needs context to know whether you are talking about the mythical creature or the long-necked giraffe of Africa.

3. Apparently, this was the first word used for regular giraffes in China (some were brought from Africa to China during the Ming Dynasty - probably around the year 1400). Though the mythical creature may have existed before, the name “qilin” was given to the “new giraffe”. This is because, more than 600 years ago, giraffes somewhat matched the mythical creature's description when Chinese people saw them for the first time. Later, to avoid such an ambiguous title, a three-character word was devised to mean a “giraffe of Africa”. The characters for “qilin” shown here are only for the mythological version in modern Chinese.

4. More information about the qilin / kirin from Wikipedia.

5. This creature is sometimes translated as the “Chinese Unicorn”, even though it is generally portrayed with two horns. I think this is done more for the fantasy aspect of the unicorn and because most westerners don't know what a qilin or kirin is (this avoids a long explanation by the translator).

6. In Korean, this can mean kirin or simply giraffe (usually the mythological creature is what they would think of when seeing these characters alone on a wall scroll).

Score: 16/100

This is the word that translates as "Legendary Phoenix" in Chinese. This refers to the bird that according to Chinese folklore, rose from the fiery ashes.

The phoenix and dragon are by far the most famous creatures in Chinese mythology.

Score: 16/100

This means "legendary turtle" in Chinese. This is a great mythological turtle that travels the seas. The creature is comparable to the dragon of China, however, it so happens that dragons became a bit more famous as history progressed. In modern Chinese, this character can just refer to a large sea turtle.

Note: This character can be pronounced in Korean, but this is a very rare Korean Hanja form - it hasn't been used in Korea for at least a few hundred years (even before they switched to Hangul characters).

Score: 11/100

This is another simple way to write "Phoenix" in Chinese. This is the specifically female element of phoenix, so this is how you write "female phoenix". This character is sometimes used to represent the female empress (many times in history, China was ruled by a woman, in much the same way queens came to power in Europe).

Note that the emperor is always represented as a dragon (not the male version of phoenix).

If you see yourself as a strong woman, this might be scroll for you to express "woman power" or "powerful woman" in a cool way.

Score: 6/100