考
Symbols Life
trial
驗
ㄎㄠˇ ㄧㄢˋ kǎo yàn
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.
Being tested by circumstances. Chinese distinguishes an examination, an ordeal that proves you, and refinement by fire.
Before you commit
Choose with careTrial in the legal sense is a different word entirely, 審判. Do not expect 考驗 to carry a courtroom meaning.
Pairs well with歷練 for experience gained through trials, or 磨練 for being tempered by them. Both read as compliments in Chinese.
At small sizesTwenty-nine strokes across two characters, both busy. This one really needs scale to stay legible on skin.
Meaning
A trial or test of character, endurance or loyalty.
The exact word for life testing someone - not an exam, an ordeal.
Other characters for “trial”
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