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Personalize your custom “賊” project by clicking the button next to your favorite “賊” title below...
People keep asking me for rebel as a single Chinese character, Korean Hanja, or Japanese Kanji.
The problem is, rebel is not really a good word in Asian culture (depending on the context in which it is used). 賊 is a rebel symbol that can also mean thief; traitor; evil; robber; burglar; insurgent; or a spoiler. Used as an adjective, it can mean wily or deceitful.
Sea Robber
海賊 means pirate in Chinese, Japanese Kanji, and old Korean Hanja.
Literally, this translates as sea robber or ocean thief.
逆賊 is a popular way to write renegade, traitor, bandit, insurgent, or rebel in Chinese and Japanese.
Alternate version
Below are some entries from our dictionary that may match your 賊 search...
Characters If shown, 2nd row is Simp. Chinese |
Pronunciation Romanization |
Simple Dictionary Definition |
賊 贼 see styles |
zéi zei2 tsei zoku ぞく |
More info & calligraphy: Rebel / Insurgent(1) thief; robber; burglar; (2) rebel; insurgent; traitor A thief, robber, spoiler; to rob, steal, etc. |
叛賊 叛贼 see styles |
pàn zéi pan4 zei2 p`an tsei pan tsei hanzoku はんぞく |
More info & calligraphy: Renegade / Traitor / Rebelrebel |
海賊 海贼 see styles |
hǎi zéi hai3 zei2 hai tsei kaizoku かいぞく |
More info & calligraphy: Piratepirate |
逆賊 逆贼 see styles |
nì zéi ni4 zei2 ni tsei gyakuzoku ぎゃくぞく |
More info & calligraphy: Renegade / Traitor / Rebelrebel; traitor; insurgent |
余賊 see styles |
yozoku よぞく |
(rare) remaining bandits; unconquered rebels; escaped thieves |
作賊 作贼 see styles |
zuò zéi zuo4 zei2 tso tsei |
to be a thief |
兇賊 see styles |
kyouzoku / kyozoku きょうぞく |
(out-dated kanji) villain |
六賊 六贼 see styles |
liù zéi liu4 zei2 liu tsei rokuzoku |
The six cauras, or robbers, i. e. the six senses; the 六根 sense organs are the 媒 'matchmakers', or medial agents, of the six robbers. The 六賊 are also likened to the six pleasures of the six sense organs. Prevention is by not acting with them, i. e. the eye avoiding beauty, the ear sound, nose scent, tongue flavors, body seductions, and mind uncontrolled thoughts. |
凶賊 see styles |
kyouzoku / kyozoku きょうぞく |
villain |
剋賊 克贼 see styles |
kè zéi ke4 zei2 k`o tsei ko tsei kokuzoku |
to plunder |
劫賊 劫贼 see styles |
jié zéi jie2 zei2 chieh tsei kōzoku |
thief |
匪賊 see styles |
hizoku ひぞく |
bandit; rebel |
反賊 see styles |
hanzoku はんぞく |
rebel |
国賊 see styles |
kokuzoku こくぞく |
traitor (to one's country) |
國賊 国贼 see styles |
guó zéi guo2 zei2 kuo tsei |
traitor to the nation |
女賊 女贼 see styles |
nǚ zéi nv3 zei2 nü tsei jozoku; nyozoku じょぞく; にょぞく |
(1) (hist) female bandit; female robber; (2) (にょぞく only) (derogatory term) {Buddh} woman (who distracts men's search for truth) Woman the robber, as the cause of sexual passion, stealing away the riches of religion, v. 智度論 14. |
奸賊 奸贼 see styles |
jiān zéi jian1 zei2 chien tsei kanzoku かんぞく |
a traitor; a treacherous bandit villain |
姦賊 see styles |
kanzoku かんぞく |
villain |
山賊 山贼 see styles |
shān zéi shan1 zei2 shan tsei sanzoku さんぞく |
brigand (noun - becomes adjective with の) bandit; brigand |
巨賊 see styles |
kyozoku きょぞく |
big-time bandit; big-time pirate |
怨賊 怨贼 see styles |
yuàn zéi yuan4 zei2 yüan tsei onzoku |
The robber hatred, hurtful to life and goods. |
惡賊 恶贼 see styles |
è zéi e4 zei2 o tsei aku zoku |
a(n) [evil] gangster |
慣賊 惯贼 see styles |
guàn zéi guan4 zei2 kuan tsei |
habitual thief |
抓賊 抓贼 see styles |
zhuā zéi zhua1 zei2 chua tsei |
to catch a thief |
木賊 see styles |
tokusa とくさ |
scouring rushes; Equisetum hyemale; common horsetail; (place-name, surname) Tokusa |
業賊 业贼 see styles |
yè zéi ye4 zei2 yeh tsei gōzoku |
Robber-karma; evil karma harms as does a robber. |
死賊 死贼 see styles |
sǐ zéi si3 zei2 ssu tsei shizoku |
The robber death. |
殺賊 杀贼 see styles |
shā zéi sha1 zei2 sha tsei setsuzoku |
Kṣīṇāsrava, thief-destroyer, i.e. conqueror of the passions, an arhat. |
流賊 see styles |
ryuuzoku / ryuzoku りゅうぞく |
roving robber; marauder |
烏賊 乌贼 see styles |
wū zéi wu1 zei2 wu tsei ika いか |
cuttlefish (kana only) cuttlefish; squid; (surname) Ika |
The following table may be helpful for those studying Chinese or Japanese...
Title | Characters | Romaji (Romanized Japanese) | Various forms of Romanized Chinese | |
Rebel Insurgent | 賊 贼 | zoku | zéi / zei2 / zei | tsei |
Pirate | 海賊 海贼 | kaizoku | hǎi zéi / hai3 zei2 / hai zei / haizei | hai tsei / haitsei |
Renegade Traitor Rebel | 逆賊 逆贼 | gyakuzoku | nì zéi / ni4 zei2 / ni zei / nizei | ni tsei / nitsei |
Renegade Traitor Rebel | 叛賊 叛贼 | han zoku / hanzoku | pàn zéi / pan4 zei2 / pan zei / panzei | p`an tsei / pantsei / pan tsei |
In some entries above you will see that characters have different versions above and below a line. In these cases, the characters above the line are Traditional Chinese, while the ones below are Simplified Chinese. |
Successful Chinese Character and Japanese Kanji calligraphy searches within the last few hours...
All of our calligraphy wall scrolls are handmade.
When the calligrapher finishes creating your artwork, it is taken to my art mounting workshop in Beijing where a wall scroll is made by hand from a combination of silk, rice paper, and wood.
After we create your wall scroll, it takes at least two weeks for air mail delivery from Beijing to you.
Allow a few weeks for delivery. Rush service speeds it up by a week or two for $10!
When you select your calligraphy, you'll be taken to another page where you can choose various custom options.
The wall scroll that Sandy is holding in this picture is a "large size"
single-character wall scroll.
We also offer custom wall scrolls in small, medium, and an even-larger jumbo size.
Professional calligraphers are getting to be hard to find these days.
Instead of drawing characters by hand, the new generation in China merely type roman letters into their computer keyboards and pick the character that they want from a list that pops up.
There is some fear that true Chinese calligraphy may become a lost art in the coming years. Many art institutes in China are now promoting calligraphy programs in hopes of keeping this unique form
of art alive.
Even with the teachings of a top-ranked calligrapher in China, my calligraphy will never be good enough to sell. I will leave that to the experts.
The same calligrapher who gave me those lessons also attracted a crowd of thousands and a TV crew as he created characters over 6-feet high. He happens to be ranked as one of the top 100 calligraphers in all of China. He is also one of very few that would actually attempt such a feat.
Check out my lists of Japanese Kanji Calligraphy Wall Scrolls and Old Korean Hanja Calligraphy Wall Scrolls.