Chinese Tattoo Characters - Strong Woman

Stacy sent in this confirmation request with the image of her tattoo below:

"1) I was told it meant "strong woman".
2) On my forearm.
3) This tattoo is above another tattoo that not any other Chinese characters."

Hi Stacy,

The design says exactly what you were told: "strong woman", but a bit more. The character for "woman" used here is specifically for that of a woman/married woman/wife, so implying that it's an older woman, not a girl.

Hope that's what you're looking for!

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More info on the Traditional Chinese character 婦: http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E5%A9%A6

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.

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