Tattoo Translation

[Shane Moore]

Hello everyone. I am new to this forum and hoping that you guys can help me out.

My buddy, against my advice, just got a tattoo. He has been jonesing for kanji/hanzi tattoo for a while, but I told him to wait until he could give me a pic to take with me to Hong Kong when I go back next month. However, he didn't wait and got one anyway.

It is supposed to mean "conquerer" but I have been unable to verify this using online dictionaries.

Here is the tat. I didn't have my camera with me, so I just drew it in photoshop really quick, so my apologies if it is a bit off.

[skylee]

For 伐, take a look -> http://cdict.giga.net.tw/?q=%A5%EF

It will take more than one character for "conquerer", take a look -> http://cdict.giga.net.tw/q/conqueror

征服者,勝利者

[Shane Moore]

skylee...thank you very much for your quick response.

Luckly it is not something completely ridiculous, but it seems somewhat incomplete. Is there a character or characters that could be placed vertically beneath that one which would make it more complete?

Perhaps meaning something like "cut down all enemies".

[muddy]

There is a phrase called 讨伐(tǎofá).It means send force to suppress or attack.Its meaning is similar to conquer,but its tone is less strong than conquer.

Incidentally,in this phrase,讨(tǎo) is in front of 伐(fá),it means you must use it above the tattoo,maybe not satisfy your request.

[rootfool]

I think "征伐" is a complete word that you wanted.

But I can't find a word means "cut down all enemies" which constituted with two characters.Maybe "征伐四方" or "遇神杀神" is proper for this.

[Shane Moore]

Muddy and Root...thank you both for your replies. I think his tattoo is fairly high on his shoulder, but there may be room above it for at least one character.

I will give him his options (and chastise him for not listening to me in the first place). I am not sure which he will choose. Root, your first two mean basically "invade a country" and "invade from all directions"... is that correct?

Your last one, unfortunately won't work since it is missing 伐.

[rootfool]

Root, your first two mean basically "invade a country" and "invade from all directions"... is that correct?

nope."征伐四方" means "invade all directions/conquer everywhere.In here "四方" a metaphor of "everywhere".

征伐四方=东讨西伐=南征北伐.

[Shane Moore]

Thanks for clearing that up Root.

[magores]

A great site re: Tattoo translations

http://www.hanzismatter.com/

Be forewarned. He suffers no fools.

(And, from what I can tell, he considers people that get a tattoo in a language that they don't understand to be fools.)

[Shane Moore]

Thanks magores...that site is actually a big part of the reason I warned my friend not to get the tattoo before I could verify its translation.

Lucky for him, it doesn't mean something outrageous and can be easily altered to create a complete phrase that is no far off from his original intent.