(hèn): to hate

(hèn) is a Chinese character meaning “to hate.” Classified as HSK Level 6 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (semantic) and (phonetic). It ranks #1287 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).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to hate

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticheart

Decomposition: ⿰忄艮 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
verbchóu hènto hate
verbzēng hènto detest
nounyuàn hènto resent
nountòng hènto detest
verbhèn bu dewishing one could do sth
verbhuǐ hènremorse
怀verbhuái hènto feel hatred
adjectivekě hènhateful
phrasehèn zhī rù gǔto hate sb to the bone (idiom)
verbfèn hènto hate
verbjì hènto bear grudges
verbjí hènto hate out of jealousy
nounyí hèneternal regret
verbjì hènhate (due to envy etc)
phrasexiāng jiàn hèn wǎnto regret not having met earlier (idiom)
60
Total compounds
22
As first character
60
As last character
18
As middle character

appears in 60 compound words: 22 as the first character, 60 as the last, and 18 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.

qiú
0.7019,623 co-occurrences
yuàn
0.6875,692 co-occurrences
tòng
0.5472,968 co-occurrences
huǐ
0.5451,260 co-occurrences
0.516522 co-occurrences
fèn
0.477438 co-occurrences
0.472364 co-occurrences
gǎn
0.455902 co-occurrences
0.443522 co-occurrences
shān
0.421230 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (12)

ài hèn jiāo zhīHSK 6+

mixture of love and hate

phrase
bàochóu xuěhènHSK 7+

to exact revenge so as to settle a score

phrase
bàohènzhōngtiānHSK 6+

to regret something to the end of one's days

phrase
hènzhīrùgǔHSK 6+

to hate to the bone; to hate deeply

phrase
怀huáihènzàixīnHSK 6+

to hold a grudge against; to harbor resentment towards

phrase
jiù chóu xīn hènHSK 6+

old worries with new hatred added (idiom); afflicted by problems old and new

phrase
shēn chóu dà hènHSK 7+

(idiom) bitter hatred

phrase
xīn chóu jiù hènHSK 7+

(idiom) old and new grudges; accumulated grievances

phrase
xīn chóu jiù hènHSK 6+

new worries added to old hatred (idiom); afflicted by problems old and new

phrase
yǐn hèn tūn shēngHSK 6+

to harbor a grudge with deep-seated hatred (idiom)

phrase
zhōngtiānzhīhènHSK 6+

lifelong regret; eternal remorse

phrase

Showing 11 of 12 idioms containing .

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

不要因为一次失败就自己,要学会从错误中吸取教训。

Búyào yīnwèi yí cì shībài jiù hèn zìjǐ, yào xuéhuì cóng cuòwù zhōng xīqǔ jiàoxun.

Don't hate yourself because of one failure; learn to learn from mistakes.

ZaobaoMar 2026

...敦犹太社区救护车遭纵火 警方定性为反犹仇犯罪

. . . dūn yóu tài shè qū jiù hù chē zāo zòng huǒ jǐng fāng dìng xìng wéi fǎn yóu qiú hèn fàn zuì

...An ambulance belonging to the Jewish community in Dun was set on fire; police have classified the incident as a hate crime against Jews

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

...遇死劫 师生哀悼:她毕业留台...竟成遗

. . . yù sǐ jié shī shēng āi dào : tā bì yè liú tái . . . jìng chéng yí hèn

... Teachers and students mourned: she graduated and stayed in Taiwan... It turned out to be a regret

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

影/籲228仇能放下和解 鄭麗文:國民黨一定守護民主憲...

yǐng 籲 qiú hèn néng fàng xià hé jiě 鄭 麗 wén 國 mín 黨 yī dìng shǒu 護 mín zhǔ 憲 . . .

Shadow/Call for 228 hatred can be put aside and reconciled Zheng Liwen: The Kuomintang must protect the democratic constitution...

NewsFeb 2026

...年嘉义纪念碑追思 张博雅:建碑为怀念非怀

. . . nián jiā yì jì niàn bēi zhuī sī zhāng bó yǎ jiàn bēi wéi huái niàn fēi huái hèn

... In memory of the Chiayi Monument Zhang Boya: The monument was erected as a remembrance rather than a grudge

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

...認「德意志」換掉柯建銘 蔡其昌:賴總統若之入骨連總召都不需談

. . . 認 dé yì zhì 換 diào 柯 jiàn 銘 蔡 qí chāng 賴 總 統 ruò hèn zhī rù gǔ 連 總 zhào dōu bù xū 談

... Recognize "Germany" and replace Ke Jianming Cai Qichang: If President Lai hates it to the bone, he doesn't even need to talk about the general summons

Tatoeba

言论会煽动私刑。

Chóuhèn yánlùn huì shāndòng sī xíng.

Hate speech incites lynchings.

Tatoeba

简而言之,你我,是吧?

Jiǎn'éryánzhī, nǐ hèn wǒ, shì ba?

In a word, you hate me, don't you?

Tatoeba

我痛恐怖主义组织。

Wǒ tònghèn kǒngbùzhǔyì zǔzhī.

I hate terrorist organizations.

Tatoeba

这并不是因为我他,相反我爱他。

Zhè bìngbù shì yīnwèi wǒ hèn tā, xiāngfǎn wǒ ài tā.

It is not because I hate him, but because I love him.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 忄 (heart) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced hèn

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 恨 (hèn) mean in Chinese?
恨 (hèn) primarily means "to hate." It is classified as HSK Level 6, making it an advanced character. It ranks #1287 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 恨 and 爱?
恨 (hèn) and 爱 (ài) are often confused. antonym. The key distinguishing feature: 恨 (hate) vs 爱 (love).
How many strokes does 恨 have?
恨 is written with 9 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 恨?
The radical associated with 恨 is 忄 (heart). This radical appears in many characters related to heart.
What are the components of 恨?
恨 is composed of: 忄 (semantic), 艮 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰忄艮 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 恨?
Common words with 恨 include: 仇恨 (chóu hèn, "to hate"); 憎恨 (zēng hèn, "to detest"); 怨恨 (yuàn hèn, "to resent"); 痛恨 (tòng hèn, "to detest"); 恨不得 (hèn bu de, "wishing one could do sth"). There are over 60 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 恨 (hèn)?
Several characters share the pronunciation hèn: 很 (very), 狠 (ruthless), 痕 (mark, scar). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 恨 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 恨 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken 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.