As far as I know, Fei by itself doesn’t mean anything, but as Feichang (非常) it means “very” or “particularly.”  It’s so pretty, with two wings side by side.

That’s right, there is a single-syllable word in Chinese that means “to sell e.g. one’s own child during e.g. a famine,” and in a delicious little irony, it’s derived from 粥 “gruel” which makes it cognate to 育, “bear/raise children.”

If you thought you knew everything there is to express in the Chinese language, Bokane’s latest post will probably enlighten you.  It’s a delicious trek through linguistics and the derivation of characters as seen through a modern non-native viewpoint.  Warning:  salient language ahead.

The tattoos should read 风土水火 (feng, tu, shui, huo) or Wind, Earth, Water, Fire.  As far as I can tell, they’re done correctly!  Hurray for the four elements.

The second is harder to identify. It is something, maybe a 恭, followed by a 喜:

I am going to send these over to Tian at Hanzi Smatter for his expert opinion, and let you know what he says.

The Chinese word for To Have Fun is 玩 (wan2). The character is quite cute, with the right portion having tails!

The Chinese word for lake is 湖 (hu2). The character is very beautiful and proportional.