The Chinese symbol for fate and connection — 缘 (yuán)

Where the character comes from

缘 is 纟, the silk-thread radical, with 彖 as the phonetic. The thread is the image the word never quite lets go of: something already tying two people together before they meet.

How it is actually used

缘分 is the affinity or serendipity between people and is used constantly in ordinary speech; 有缘 means you were meant to meet, 无缘 that you were not; 缘故 means reason or cause. 有缘再见 — 'if we're fated to, we'll meet again' — is a normal, unremarkable goodbye.

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.

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

What is the Chinese symbol for fate and connection?

缘 (yuán) is the Buddhist idea of a predestined connection between people — the affinity that brought you together. It has no clean English equivalent, and it is not 'fate' in the sense of an inescapable destiny, which is 命运 (mìngyùn). It is written 缘 and pronounced yuán.

What does 缘 not mean?

It does not mean destiny in the grand sense, and it does not mean luck. It is relational and specific: 缘 exists between two people or between a person and a place, never on its own.

Is 缘 commonly mistranslated?

Yes. The claim you will meet most often is: "缘 means destiny." 命运 means destiny — the course of a life. 缘 is much lighter and much narrower: the reason the two of you crossed paths at all. This page lists 2 such claims about 缘 with what is true instead.

Is 缘 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?

緣 (15 strokes) is the traditional form, 缘 (12) the simplified one — the silk radical 糸 contracts to 纟, which is one of the most systematic changes in the simplification scheme and affects hundreds of characters.

What else can I use for fate and connection in Chinese?

Depending on what you mean: 命, 运, 分. This page explains when each one is the right choice, and 缘 itself lives in words such as 缘分, 姻缘, 机缘.