Chinese character for rat: 鼠 (shǔ)
The Chinese character for rat is 鼠 (shǔ). It means rat or mouse and is the first of the twelve animals of the Chinese zodiac. It appears in 老鼠 (lǎoshǔ, rat, mouse) and 鼠年 (shǔ nián, Year of the Rat).
How 鼠 is built
鼠 is a pictograph of a rodent. The top part 臼 shows the head with its sharp front teeth, and the lower part shows the body, small legs and a long tail curling to the right. As a part of other characters it marks small rodents, as in 鼯 (flying squirrel). It has thirteen strokes and is identical in simplified and traditional Chinese. In the zodiac, the rat stands for cleverness and quick wit.
鼠 shǔ · rat
- 臼jiù — mortar
How 鼠 is used
Before you use it as a tattoo or design: 鼠 is identical in both scripts; for a zodiac tattoo, 鼠 alone is understood as the Rat sign.
Questions
What is the Chinese character for rat?
鼠 (shǔ) means “rat”.
How do you pronounce 鼠?
鼠 is pronounced shǔ.