A novel low-complexity weighted symbol-flipping algorithm with flipping patterns to decode nonbinary low-density parity-check codes is proposed. The proposed decoding procedure updates the hard-decision received symbol vector iteratively in search of a valid codeword in the symbol vector space. Only one symbol is flipped in each iteration, and symbol flipping function, which is employed as the symbol flipping metric, combines the number of failed checks and the reliabilities of the received bits and calculated symbols. A scheme to avoid infinite loops and select one symbol to flip in high order Galois field search is also proposed. The design of flipping pattern’s order and depth, which is dependent of the computational requirement and error performance, is also proposed and exemplified. Simulation results show that the algorithm achieves an appealing tradeoff between performance and computational requirement over relatively low Galois field for short to medium code length.