Help please - translation of an image

[JenP]

Would anyone be able to tell me what this symbol means. Many thanks!

[Publius]

It's nonsense. Or a failed attempt to draw a character by someone with zero knowledge of the writing system.

[Lu]

It's not a Chinese character. Where did you see this?

[JenP]

Thanks both. I am a teacher and we have a prolific graffiti artist who keeps tagging their "work" with this. So we thought it might help find out who they were.

[889]

Yes, it's someone who doesn't know how to write Chinese. Perhaps it's a stab at the character 月 yue "month." Or perhaps not.

 

Anyway, you should be able to rule out anyone with a background in Chinese, Japanese or Korean language.

[Lu]

Perhaps they're initials? AF or FA? Good luck finding this person.

[Shelley]

Is it possibly 丹 pinyin dān ? This would make sense as a name Dan.

[Shelley]

Anyone think my suggestion is on the the right track?

[Lu]

@Shelley, it looks a bit like 月 or 丹, but in my opinion it looks more like a collection of strokes by someone who had little idea (and was likely not thinking of) Chinese characters.

[Shelley]

@Lu You might be right, but if you consider it may have been done with spray paint, in a hurry by someone who is not good at writing chinese characters i would be happy to consider this was a rough attempt at 丹 mainly because it is being used a name tag and it sounds like Dan.

 

But I have to defer to those wiser than me.

 

Anyway it would be interesting to hear from the OP if they ever catch the tagger.

[lips]

Maybe it's a broken picnic table.

[dwq]

Or the artist is hungry and want to eat 丼 

[Publius]

Indeed 丼(donburi, abbreviation of 丼鉢 donburibachi) is a big rice bowl in Japanese.

 

Since everybody is having fun with this, here's my shot:

It looks like a walking monster, probably inspired by 耳 and/or 牙.

The dot in the middle could be its eye (象形) or the part the artist wants to emphasize (指事).

So I'd venture to say this symbol means one-eyed monster->penis or pocket monster->Pokémon.

[JenP]

Thank you all for your suggestions - we've not had a "tag" in the last 48 hours - they seem to have laid low for a bit. But I'll let you know if we catch them and find out more.