Family Tattoo

[chelsea531]

My mom, brother, and I want to get a matching tattoo of the symbol for family. I have been doing some research, but was wondering how the characters should go. I want mine to be vertical on the back of my calf.

here is the site I found

http://ajapaneseandchinesemajor.aznaddict.com/chinese-symbol-for-family/

which would be on top?

[SiMaKe]

...which would be on top?

The characters are 家庭 (jiā tíng). When written vertically, 家 is on top with 庭 underneath.

[roddy]

If I was going to do that (personally I'd spend the money on a nice meal and a family photo) I'd just have 家 rather than 家庭。

[Glenn]

Yeah, but then you'd be told by a Japanese speaker that it means "house". Or you may be asked why you got "house" tattooed on yourself. Either way, it doesn't mean "family" when used on its own in Japanese. 家庭 is less ambiguous inter-lingually.

[jbradfor]

Interestingly enough, if you search google images for just 家 (i.e. "家 +site:.cn"), you get a lot of pictures of houses. If you add 庭 (i.e. "家庭 +site:.cn") it's almost all people.

This is a bit of a surprise to me, actually.

[renzhe]

家庭 sounds like a census bureau pollster tattooed it on you. With the usual non-native speaker disclaimer, the term means "household" to me.

I'm with roddy. Especially since the Ba Jin novel has the same name, and it's one of the nicest looking characters out there.

[Hofmann]

家 sufficiently means "family" first and foremost. "House" is a newer definition.