苔
Symbols Nature
moss
ㄊㄞˊ tái
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.
Low green growth on stone and shade; in Chinese it reads as quiet, age and long stillness.
Before you commit
Choose with care苔 also names 舌苔, the coating on the tongue that Chinese medicine reads for diagnosis. Not a serious problem, but it is a live second meaning.
At small sizesNine strokes, well spaced under the grass radical. Prints cleanly.
Cultural note苔痕上階綠, the moss creeping green up the steps, is a famous line about a plain dwelling and a contented mind. Moss means unhurried, not neglected.
Meaning
Moss; also the coating on the tongue in Chinese medicine.
The single character, short and correct.
Other characters for “moss”
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