Do any of you know how to write "damaged" with Chinese characters? Asking for a friend. Yes, we know that Google translate exists, but it can be a bit iffy. He doesn't want to end up tattooing an incorrect translation like Ariana Grande did.
It's been a very long time since I took a Chinese class once in middle school, but if I remember correctly there's not actually just one word for it... there are like 4 depending on the context. If it's used as an adjective, verb, talking about damaging an item or a person etc.
I'm certainly not an expert... but I think the appropriate word for that might be 受害 (shòuhài) which means to suffer damage or injury. Definitely will want to check that with a native Chinese speaker first if it's becoming a tattoo though.
The problem with Chinese is that many words, when used out of context, do not fall into an exact category, like a verb, adverb, noun, etc. It's the context and an exact place in the sentence that define the functionality, and sometimes also the meaning, of the word. So, many times, if you want to say that this or that word is a verb, you would have to get tattooed a whole sentence with that word used, to actually 100% say that it's a verb... For example the word 受害 that Destin used, I think it can mean both damaged, as an adverb, and get damaged / recieve damage, as a verb. However it can also mean killed I think... Literal translation of these characters means something like 'to recieve harm'. I would definitely ask a native speaker (I'm not, I'm just studying the language). There are just two examples that came to my mind: 破坏无遗 (pòhuàiwúyí) - this means 'damaged beyond repair' and it can stand on its own I think... however I'm not sure if you can use it when talking about a person... 损伤 (sǔnshāng) - means damage / injury, or to damage / to injure. Also, one sincere advise: tattooing chinese characters is, for someone who speaks the language, the same as if you got a tattoo saying 'damaged' in English... it's just kind of weird...
