The Chinese symbol for dream — 梦 (mèng)

Where the character comes from

The traditional 夢 has 夕, the evening, at its foot, under elements that in the older forms show a person lying down with an exaggerated eye or eyebrow. Night, and seeing.

How it is actually used

做梦 is to dream, 梦见 is to dream of something, 梦想 is a dream in the aspirational sense, 噩梦 is a nightmare, and 白日梦 is a daydream — which in Chinese means specifically an unrealistic one.

Both glyphs above are set in whatever Chinese font your device uses, which is a 楷书-derived regular script — the same shape a printer or a tattoo studio's "Chinese font" will produce. Brush styles (行书 running, 草书 cursive, 篆书 seal) look substantially different and are worth commissioning from a calligrapher rather than approximating from a font. You can watch this character written stroke by stroke in the Stroke Order Animator or practise it on printable 田字格 sheets.

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.

梦 is one answer, not the answer. Which of these is right depends on what you mean by "dream" — and that is usually the question worth settling before anything is written down permanently.

What is the Chinese symbol for dream?

梦 (mèng) is the dream you have while asleep, and by extension the ambition you chase awake. But it carries a strand English does not: in Chinese, calling something a dream often means calling it an illusion. It is written 梦 and pronounced mèng.

What does 梦 not mean?

It does not mean 'dreamy' or 'dreamer' as a compliment. 人生如梦 — life is like a dream — is one of the most quoted lines in classical poetry, and it means life is brief and insubstantial, not that life is wonderful.

Is 梦 commonly mistranslated?

Yes. The claim you will meet most often is: "梦 means 'follow your dreams'." 梦想 is the aspirational word. 梦 alone is the noun for what happens when you sleep, and its literary weight is melancholy rather than motivational. This page lists 2 such claims about 梦 with what is true instead.

Is 梦 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?

夢 (13 strokes) is the traditional form and 梦 (11) the simplified one; the simplification replaced the upper element with 林, so the modern character reads as 'trees over evening' and has lost the eye entirely.

What else can I use for dream in Chinese?

Depending on what you mean: 梦想, 志, 想. This page explains when each one is the right choice, and 梦 itself lives in words such as 梦想, 做梦, 噩梦.