The Chinese symbol for courage — 勇 (yǒng)
勇 (yǒng) is courage of the acting kind — bravery in the face of danger. It is built from 力 (force) under a phonetic element, and in modern Chinese it is a bound morpheme rather than a standalone word.
At a glance
- Character
- 勇 full dictionary entry
- Pinyin
- yǒng
- Literal meaning
- Brave; valiant
- Dictionary senses
- Brave From the same dictionary as our translator.
Stroke order
What 勇 means
Where the character comes from
勇 pairs the phonetic 甬 with 力 at the bottom, so the character is literally 'yǒng-force'. Qing-dynasty provincial soldiers wore a single 勇 on the chest and back of their tunics, which is why the character still carries a military look to Chinese eyes.
How it is actually used
勇气 is courage as a noun, 勇敢 is the adjective brave, 英勇 is heroic, and 勇士 is a warrior or brave fighter. You would say 他很勇敢, not 他很勇.
What 勇 does not mean
It does not cover moral courage — owning up to a mistake, speaking unpopular truth. That is 敢 (to dare) inside a phrase, or simply described rather than named. 勇 is about facing something dangerous.
Claims you will meet elsewhere
"勇 means brave."
勇敢 means brave. A single 勇 reads as half a word to a modern reader — recognisable, but incomplete in the way 'coura-' would be in English.
"勇 is the samurai virtue of courage."
勇 is one of the bushidō virtues as Japanese writers list them, and Japanese uses the same character. That is a Japanese framing borrowed into English, not what a Chinese reader is thinking of.
For the general version of this problem — why a machine translation of a single word so often reads as confident nonsense — see Why AI Translators Guess.
The character in different scripts
简体
繁體
勇 is the same in simplified and traditional Chinese, nine strokes. The old military usage means you will sometimes see it in a bold, squared 隶书 clerical style on reproductions of banners and uniforms.
The words 勇 lives in
This is the part a symbol list leaves out, and it is the fastest way to feel what a character actually carries. Readings and meanings come from the same dictionary that powers the translator; tap any word for its full dictionary entry.
Other ways to say courage
勇 is one answer, not the answer. Which of these is right depends on what you mean by "courage" — and that is usually the question worth settling before anything is written down permanently.
Courage as a noun — the thing you summon. The natural choice if you want the concept rather than the component.
To dare. 敢说敢做 — dares to speak and dares to act — is closer to moral courage than 勇 ever gets.
Gall, nerve. 胆量 is nerve and 大胆 is bold; the Chinese body-metaphor for courage sits in the gallbladder, not the heart.
勇 — frequently asked questions
What is the Chinese symbol for courage?
勇 (yǒng) is courage of the acting kind — bravery in the face of danger. It is built from 力 (force) under a phonetic element, and in modern Chinese it is a bound morpheme rather than a standalone word. It is written 勇 and pronounced yǒng.
What does 勇 not mean?
It does not cover moral courage — owning up to a mistake, speaking unpopular truth. That is 敢 (to dare) inside a phrase, or simply described rather than named. 勇 is about facing something dangerous.
Is 勇 commonly mistranslated?
Yes. The claim you will meet most often is: "勇 means brave." 勇敢 means brave. A single 勇 reads as half a word to a modern reader — recognisable, but incomplete in the way 'coura-' would be in English. This page lists 2 such claims about 勇 with what is true instead.
Is 勇 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
勇 is the same in simplified and traditional Chinese, nine strokes. The old military usage means you will sometimes see it in a bold, squared 隶书 clerical style on reproductions of banners and uniforms.
What else can I use for courage in Chinese?
Depending on what you mean: 勇气, 敢, 胆. This page explains when each one is the right choice, and 勇 itself lives in words such as 勇气, 勇敢, 英勇.
Concepts that get confused with this one
Keep going
Check any wording of your own in the Chinese to English translator before it goes anywhere permanent, look 勇 up in full in the dictionary, learn the components it is built from in the Chinese Radicals guide, see it used in real sentences in the example sentence bank, or read Why AI Translators Guess for why single-word translation is the hardest kind.