Glyph match: find the sample that looks like your print and read its card
A board of print samples drawn by this site, two switches to turn them like a photo, and a reading card for each: meaning, pronunciation, occasion, script and the impression it gives a Chinese reader.
The sample board and the reading card
Choose a kind of print, turn the board with the switches until the samples look like your photo, then pick the closest one.
Pick a sample to open its reading card.
Turning a sample until it matches the photo
A note on how to use the tool before you start: open the seller’s photo of the print in another window and look at its general shape first: one big character, a short word, a line of four, a column.
Pick a kind with the buttons above the board if you can tell it is a lucky word, slang, an idiom, Japanese or something that only looks like writing. If you cannot tell, leave it on All samples.
If the photo looks reversed, press Mirror; every sample flips. If the print runs down a sleeve or a hood, press Vertical; the multi-character samples redraw as columns. Then pick the sample whose outline is closest. Shapes matter more than color: the board uses cloth colors only to look like clothing.
If nothing on the board resembles your print, that is useful too. The board covers common prints, not every print, and a print outside it is worth asking the seller about.
What each line of the card tells you
Every card has the same six lines, so you can compare samples quickly.
- Literal meaning: what the words say, in plain English, before any interpretation.
- Reading: pinyin for Chinese, romanized Japanese for Japanese, so you can say it or search it.
- Where it is used: the occasion or register, such as New Year, weddings, office slang or classical poetry.
- Script: simplified, traditional, Japanese, both, or not a character at all.
- On clothing, a Chinese reader usually: the impression it tends to give, written as a tendency, never a rule.
- Checked against: the dictionary page or published list we compared it with, and the date.
Slang cards say “our reading” and give the year because their tone shifts. Lucky words and idioms are stable and checked against dictionary entries.
Where each reading comes from
Meanings come from public dictionaries: the revised and concise Mandarin dictionaries of the Ministry of Education in Taiwan for Chinese words, the Digital Daijisen dictionary for Japanese, and the Unicode Unihan records for which simplified form matches which traditional one. Slang dates come from the published buzzword and internet-term lists. All were read on October 19, 2026.
The samples themselves are images we drew with open-source fonts released under the SIL Open Font License: Noto Sans SC, TC and JP, Noto Serif SC, Ma Shan Zheng, Zhi Mang Xing and Liu Jian Mao Cao. None of them is a photo of a real garment, and none carries a brand. The full list of entries, sample by sample, follows the chart.
- Fu, fortune (福): MOE revised dictionary: 福
- Fu, hung upside down (福): MOE revised dictionary: 倒; MOE revised dictionary: 到; Folk-custom report, February 2018
- Xi, double happiness (囍): MOE concise dictionary: 囍; MOE revised dictionary: 喜, sense “of marriage”
- Zhao cai jin bao (招财进宝): MOE revised dictionary: 招財進寶
- Ping an, safe and well (平安): MOE revised dictionary: 平安
- Shou, long life (寿): MOE revised dictionary: 壽
- Gong xi fa cai (恭喜发财): MOE revised dictionary: 恭喜發財
- Yi fan feng shun (一帆风顺): MOE revised dictionary: 一帆風順
- Xin xiang shi cheng (心想事成): MOE revised dictionary: 心想事成
- Wan shi ru yi (万事如意): MOE revised dictionary: 萬事如意
- Zhi zu chang le (知足常乐): MOE revised dictionary: 知足常樂
- Feng shun, half an idiom (风顺): MOE revised dictionary: 一帆風順
- Chuang qian ming yue guang (床前明月光): “靜夜思” in three editions
- Tang ping, lie flat (躺平): MOE revised dictionary: 躺平 (literal sense); Internet-terms list as published, December 2021
- Da gong ren, worker (打工人): MOE revised dictionary: 打工; Buzzword list with notes, December 2020
- Nei juan, involution (内卷): Buzzword list with notes, December 2020
- Mo yu, slacking (摸鱼): MOE revised dictionary: 摸魚
- Jia you, keep going (加油): MOE revised dictionary: 加油
- Ku, cool (酷): MOE revised dictionary: 酷
- Ai, love, in two forms (爱 · 愛): MOE revised dictionary: 愛; Unicode Unihan record: 爱
- Meng, dream, in two forms (梦 · 夢): MOE revised dictionary: 夢; Unicode Unihan record: 梦
- Fa, one form for two words (发 · 發 · 髮): Unicode Unihan record: 发
- Ki or qi, air and spirit, three forms (気 · 气 · 氣): Digital Daijisen (Kotobank): 気; Unicode Unihan record: 气
- Genki, full of energy (元気): Digital Daijisen (Kotobank): 元気; MOE revised dictionary: 元氣
- Kawaii, cute (かわいい): Digital Daijisen (Kotobank): 可愛い
- Ren or nin, endure (忍): MOE revised dictionary: 忍; Digital Daijisen (Kotobank): 忍
- Shi or samurai (侍): MOE revised dictionary: 侍; Digital Daijisen (Kotobank): 侍
- A word shown mirrored (加油): MOE revised dictionary: 加油
- Strokes that spell nothing: a drawing by this site, no entry.
- English: add oil (ADD OIL): MOE revised dictionary: 加油
Things the board does not try to do
Glyph match compares shapes by eye. It does not read your photo, it does not take typed text, and it is not a search box or a dictionary. That is deliberate: automatic reading of stylized prints goes wrong often enough to be misleading, and a short set of well-checked samples is more useful than a long unchecked one.
The board also leaves some prints out entirely: brand names and slogans, names of real people, anything political or religious, and crude slang. If your print falls into one of those groups you will not find it here.
Nothing you do on this page is stored or sent anywhere. The switches and cards run in your browser.
Images: catalogue photographs are category examples, not this site’s purchases or verified Mulebuy orders. Drawn material, dimension and lettering examples explain a concept; they do not certify the depicted product.