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.

In the Chinese dictionary:

伐 fá (v.) cut down; fell / dispatch an expedition against; descend upon

Thanks for the quick reply demoore.

Fortunately it is not something completely ridiculous and is actually in line with what he was told. However, it seems somewhat incomplete. Is there a character or characters that could be added vertically below it to make it more complete?

Perhaps something like "cut down all enemies".

This word "伐",　Means 1. cutting 2.aggression,Fight(one country)，example :"假道伐虢"- an idiom , one old strategics
讨伐:go on a punitive expedition.

Though the second is close to "conquerer", we never use it by itself.
Excause me ,my English is not so good ,Wish you can know what I said.

Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 08/23/2007 10:38AM by scarof.

勇-bravery
毅-sturdily
義-righteousness
愛-love
战-fight
虎-tiger
.....
hope some will be of interest to you.

Generally speaking, it is neutral in single but has something to do with FORCE, and most popularly means:
send armed forces to suppress; attack

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/18/2007 06:15AM by ahuang.