(fèn): indignant, anger, resentment

(fèn) is a Chinese character meaning “indignant.” Classified as HSK Level 6 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (semantic) and (phonetic). It ranks #1498 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, heart. Its radical form (heart) appears in many related characters such as (máng, busy), (kuài, fast, happy), (zěn, how).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. indignant
  2. anger
  3. resentment

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticheart

Decomposition: ⿰忄贲 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12

Practice writing with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
adjectivefèn nùangry6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
qì fènindignant
fèn shì jí súto be cynical
fèn hènto hate
fèn kǎito resent
xiè fènto give vent to anger
bēi fèngrief and indignation
jī fènto stir up emotions
fèn fèn bù píngto feel indignant
fèn rán(literary) angry
gōng fènpublic anger
fèn mèndepressed
mín fènpublic outrage
yì fènrighteous indignation
yì fèn tián yīngrighteous indignation fills one's breast (idiom)
xiè sī fènto vent personal spite
29
Total compounds
34
As first character
48
As last character
17
As middle character

appears in 29 compound words: 34 as the first character, 48 as the last, and 17 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Strongest Collocations

Characters that most frequently co-occur with in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

0.76826,373 co-occurrences
kǎi
0.6282,520 co-occurrences
0.544984 co-occurrences
yōu
0.487822 co-occurrences
xiè
0.486816 co-occurrences
hèn
0.4841,314 co-occurrences
bēi
0.4781,482 co-occurrences
wǎn
0.44190 co-occurrences
cán
0.43060 co-occurrences
yuàn
0.425558 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (6)

fā fèn tú qiángHSK 6+

to be strongly determined to succeed (idiom)

phrase
fāfènwàngshíHSK 6+

to study or work hard, neglecting one's meals; be so immersed in work as to forget one's meals

phrase
fènfènbùpíngHSK 6+

to feel aggrieved; to be indignant

phrase
fènshìjísúHSK 7+

to be cynical; to be embittered

phrase
yì fèn tián xiōngHSK 6+

righteous indignation fills one's breast (idiom); to feel indignant at injustice

phrase
yìfèntiányīngHSK 6+

to feel indignant at injustice

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

听到这个好消息,她里充满了喜悦。

yǐn dào zhè gě hǎo xiāo xī , tā fèn lǐ chōng mǎn le xǐ yuè .

Upon hearing this good news, her heart swelled with joy.

中時新聞網Mar 2026

... 庄瑞雄痛批:蓝营支持拍手就好 不要假悲

. . . zhuāng ruì xióng tòng pī : lán yíng zhī chí pāi shǒu jiù hǎo bù yāo jiǎ bēi fèn

... Zhuang Ruixiong harshly criticized the Blue Camp, saying they should just clap in support and stop feigning outrage.

Hk01.comMar 2026

...迫15岁女口交 仅判监2年9个月 家属悲拟上诉

. . . pò 1 5 suì nǚ kǒu jiāo jǐn pàn jiān 2 nián 9 gè yuè jiā shǔ bēi fèn nǐ shàng sù

...Man Sentenced to Just 2 Years and 9 Months for Forcing 15-Year-Old Girl to Perform Oral Sex; Family Outraged and Plans to Appeal

Hk01.comMar 2026

...夫妇爱泼斯坦案作证 希拉里不满遭擅自拍照然离席|有片

. . . fū fù ài pō sī tǎn àn zuò zhèng xī lā lǐ bù mǎn zāo shàn zì pāi zhào fèn rán lí xí yǒu piàn

... Couple testified in the Epstein case Hillary was dissatisfied with being photographed without permission and left the table angrily|There is a video

Hk01.comMar 2026

哈梅内伊被杀 俄罗斯为何如此

hā méi nèi yī bèi shā é luó sī wéi hé rú cǐ fèn nù

Khamenei Was Assassinated: Why Is Russia So Angry?

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

“你妈是慰安妇吗?”男师呛网友引公 花莲县教育处介入调查

nǐ mā shì wèi ān fù ma ? nán shī qiàng wǎng yǒu yǐn gōng fèn huā lián xiàn jiào yù chǔ jiè rù diào chá

"Is your mother a comfort woman?" The male teacher choked netizens and caused public outrage The Hualien County Education Department intervened in the investigation

Tatoeba

我们对杀人犯感到悲填膺。

Wǒmen duì shārénfàn gǎndào bēifèn tián yīng.

We were filled with anger against the murderer.

Tatoeba

当我忘记约定时,他十分怒。

Dāng wǒ wàngjì yuēdìng shí, tā shífēn fènnù.

When I forgot my promise, he got really angry.

Tatoeba

即使他道歉了,我还是很怒。

Jíshǐ tā dàoqiàn le, wǒ háishi hěn fènnù.

Even though he apologized, I'm still furious.

Tatoeba

没有什么事曾让他怒。

Méiyǒushénme shì céng ràng tā fènnù.

Nothing ever makes him angry.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced fèn

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 愤 (fèn) mean in Chinese?
愤 (fèn) primarily means "indignant." It is classified as HSK Level 6, making it an advanced character. It ranks #1498 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 愤 and 喷?
愤 (fèn) and 喷 (pēn) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 忄 vs 口 (same 贲 component).
How many strokes does 愤 have?
愤 is written with 12 strokes. The correct stroke order matters for recognition and handwriting speed — practice with the animated guide above to build proper technique.
What is the radical of 愤?
The radical associated with 愤 is 忄 (heart). This radical appears in many characters related to heart.
What are the components of 愤?
愤 is composed of: 忄 (semantic), 贲 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰忄贲 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 愤?
Common words with 愤 include: 愤怒 (fèn nù, "angry"); 气愤 (qì fèn, "indignant"); 愤世嫉俗 (fèn shì jí sú, "to be cynical"); 愤恨 (fèn hèn, "to hate"); 愤慨 (fèn kǎi, "to resent"). There are over 29 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 愤 (fèn)?
Several characters share the pronunciation fèn: 分 (to divide), 吩 (used in 吩咐), 纷 (numerous), 芬 (perfume), and 5 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 愤 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 愤 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear native pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.

Character data sourced from Unihan (Unicode Consortium), SUBTLEX-CH frequency corpus (Cai & Brysbaert, 2010), and Make Me a Hanzi (stroke data). Collocation strength measured via NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information). Verified by the HanziFeed linguistics team.

HSK classification follows the HSK 3.0 Standard (Center for Language Education and Cooperation, CLEC, 2022 revision). Idiom data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Data last verified: March 2026.