girl’s name
Catherine in Chinese
凯瑟琳
kǎi sè lín · traditional 凱瑟琳
Catherine is usually written 凯瑟琳 in Chinese, pronounced kǎi sè lín. It is a transliteration: the characters are chosen to sound like Catherine, not for their meaning.
Character by character
| Character | Pinyin | Tone | Meaning | Traditional |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 凯 | kǎi | third (dipping) tone | triumphant; triumph, victory | 凱 |
| 瑟 | sè | fourth (falling) tone | large stringed musical instrument | 瑟 |
| 琳 | lín | second (rising) tone | beautiful jade, gem | 琳 |
Readings and meanings come from the Unicode Han Database (Unihan). In a transliterated name, the meanings of the characters are not read as a sentence.
Questions about Catherine in Chinese
How do you write Catherine in Chinese?
Catherine is usually written 凯瑟琳 in Chinese, pronounced kǎi sè lín. It is a transliteration: the characters are chosen to sound like Catherine, not for their meaning.
How do you pronounce 凯瑟琳?
凯瑟琳 is pronounced kǎi sè lín: kǎi in the third (dipping) tone, sè in the fourth (falling) tone and lín in the second (rising) tone.
How do you write Catherine in traditional Chinese?
In traditional characters, used in Taiwan and Hong Kong, it is written 凱瑟琳.
Is 凯瑟琳 a real Chinese name?
It is the usual way Chinese newspapers and books write the foreign name Catherine, so Chinese readers will recognise it as a foreign name. If you would like a name that looks Chinese, our free generator also suggests names chosen for their meaning.
How do Chinese transliterations work? Read how we choose your Chinese name.