聰
Symbols Mind
intelligence
ㄘㄨㄥ cōng
Two versions of the same picture, and both are free with no account and no watermark. The first has no background at all, which is the one to send your artist — but a phone or computer photo viewer set to dark will show black strokes on dark grey and it can look like nothing downloaded. If that happens, use the second one: identical characters on a plain white background. Either way you get the characters on their own — the square and the faint guide lines you see above are not in the file. Each character is 1000px, so a two-character download is 2000×1000, and the script and layout are the ones you picked.
Script
Characters
Same in both
Layout
Rubbing mode: white on black, as a stone rubbing. The download is unaffected.
Quickness of mind - how fast someone takes things in and works them out. Chinese builds this from sharp senses rather than stored knowledge.
Before you commit
Choose with care聰 alone means keen hearing and almost never stands by itself. Without 明 beside it, readers will find it incomplete rather than flattering.
At small sizesSeventeen strokes, ear on the left and a dense right side. It clogs when inked small - allow generous size.
Cultural note聰明 praises quickness, not depth. Calling someone 聰明 can even hint that they are clever rather than wise.
Meaning
Keen of hearing; by extension quick-witted and clever.
Chinese locates intelligence in sharp ears where English puts it in a sharp mind.
Other characters for “intelligence”
What to do next
Pick the script and layout you want above, download the PNG, and send that file to your artist. Ask them to work from the file rather than redrawing the character freehand — that is where strokes go missing.
Related concepts