Chinese (we think, but could be Japanese) symbol help.

[Helterskelter15]

Does anyone know if this is a Chinese symbol and if so, what does it mean? My DP has it but has absolutely no idea

I'm trying to post a pic of one for a translation. No idea what language it is though!

@MyNameHasBeenTaken

I know what I asked for... But I will join in the confirmations

Again, I think your characters are not very clearly written, but I see them as 心華開発 which doesn't really make sense to me as a phrase, but something along the the lines of 心 = heart; 華 = flower/glory; 開発 = opens up, develops. I am wondering if it is meant to be a four-character phrase from a Chinese poem or religious text of some kind?

I really want to know what mynamehasbeentaken's says!

the character is too distorted to be recognisable. I am not sure it is the right way up
Probably not 😂😂😂 @blueshoes

I’m that mine isn’t even a real symbol. I did think sboig getting it covered years ago, but the memory of the day I had it done with my best friend who sadly passed away a year later means that even though it’s nonsense, and it’s terrible and it’s been distorted by time and healed badly because I scratched it in my sleep...I still love what it represents. And ultimately that’s what tattoos are about for me.
This thread has cheered me up no end after a bit of a terrible week, so thanks OP, also thanks @FoggyNelson @blueshoes and @Puddlepop for trying

@owlbethere that memory is worth keeping it for

This is my mystery word

@OwlBeThere what was it meant to be?

I love this thread. EXh has Chinese symbols on his arm. I hope it means ‘twat’.

@ItsSpittingEverybodyIn

This is my mystery word

Not one of my languages. I would hazard a guess at Sanskrit or Thai? Where did you get it done?

I've just asked and I think it's supposed to be Bengali?

@SeagoingSexpot I don’t 100% remember, I know we were talking about living life to the fullest/enjoying whilst you can because my friend had cancer and we knew she probably didn’t have a long life ahead, so something along those lines was the idea.

@BreakfastAtLitanies

I know an Italian man with "impossible is nothing" tattooed on him!!

That was an adidas campaign in the early noughts, so that might have been what he wanted!

OwlBeThere, those are the best tattoos.

@Yankathebear

I love this thread. EXh has Chinese symbols on his arm. I hope it means ‘twat’.

🤣🤣🤣

Mine is a bit blurry... it's about 20 years old!
It is supposed to say
The teachings of the lord unfold like flowers in the spring
Pp said flowers and unfolding. That's a good start

May as well go for the pair??

@MyNameHasBeenTaken

May as well go for the pair??

Both of those characters basically mean tiger - first I had to look up, and is the character for tiger used in the Chinese zodiac, apparently; second is the character for tiger commonly used in both Chinese and Japanese.

I know an Italian man with "impossible is nothing" tattooed on him!!
That was an adidas campaign in the early noughts, so that might have been what he wanted!

It's also the name of an Iggy Azalea song so seems to be a phrase nowadays 🤷‍♀️

Love this thread by the way!

Thanks exexpat
My foot is correct then.
Eastern zodiac tiger and western tiger

How accurate is the first foot?
The teaching of the lord unfolds like spring flowers

Brother best mate (arrogant ladies man) has ‘male/ man’ on his arm with some Celtic rings to show how strong he is, apparently he actually has ‘girl’ (according to a school friend who has Chinese parents. I told him, he didn’t believe me. I chuckle every time I see him.

@OwlBeThere I wast just scrolling through this thread again and the fresh mind made me look at it a little differently. It might potentially be the character 雍 with a few extra strokes due to a misread handwriting flourish. 雍 is a beautiful word which is pronounced "yong", and means "harmony".

Regardless of what the character is, that's such a lovely story behind the tattoo

@exexpat

The character *@scotinexile* posted is badly written, so that the first stroke is detached from where it is meant to be, but it is pretty clearly recognisable as intended to be 実 jitsu (truth, reality). I presume the tattoo artist was not someone who could actually read/write Chinese or Japanese and so was copying it with errors.

Again, another good reason for not getting a tattoo if you (and the person doing the tattoo) cannot read the language in question.

Thanks for your help, and to the others who translated also.

It's not my tattoo, it's DH's. He got it many years ago on a drunken whim and couldn't remember what it was supposed to say so anytime anybody asks him he jokes that it means "tofu is not meat".

@MyNameHasBeenTaken

Thanks exexpat My foot is correct then. Eastern zodiac tiger and western tiger

How accurate is the first foot?
The teaching of the lord unfolds like spring flowers

Chinese is pretty economical with its words, so those four characters literally mean 'heart flower open up' - to translate them into English you need context and a bit of creativity, so yes, I guess that is one possible translation. Is it a quote from a piece of religious writing? It may be that within the context of that religion 'heart-flower' is used as shorthand or a metaphor for 'teaching of the lord'.

I am not a native speaker of Chinese or Japanese but when studying them had to attempt to translate passages of classical Chinese (Confucius etc), and if you compare the bare bones, word-by-word translation with the kind of translation that actually gets published, there is a huge amount added in English to clarify or make the work easier to read.

Anyone know what this one is?