(lèi): (bound form) tears, teardrops

(lèi) is a Chinese character meaning “(bound form) tears.” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (structural) and (structural). It ranks #1263 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, water 氵 from the eyes 目. Its radical form (water) appears in many related characters such as (shuǐ, water), (hàn, Han ethnic group), (, steam).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. (bound form) tears
  2. teardrops

Etymology & Origin

ideographicWater 氵 from the eyes 目

Decomposition: ⿰氵目 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

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
nounyǎn lèitear5
nounlèi shuǐteardrop5

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
liú lèito shed tears
luò lèito shed tears
cuī lèi dàntear bomb
lèi yǎntearful eyes
lèi liú mǎn miàncheeks streaming with tears (idiom)
rè lèi yíng kuàngeyes brimming with tears of excitement (idiom)
yǐ lèi xǐ miànto bathe one's face in tears (idiom)
xuè lèitears of blood (symbol of extreme suffering)
diào lèito shed tears
hán lèitearful
lèi xiànLacrimal gland
lèi guāngglistening teardrops
huī lèito shed tears
lèi wāng wāngtearful
lèi rénperson who is crying their eyes out, whose face is wet with tears
52
Total compounds
38
As first character
37
As last character
25
As middle character

appears in 52 compound words: 38 as the first character, 37 as the last, and 25 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.

bēng
0.62614 co-occurrences
cuī
0.5902,814 co-occurrences
0.556516 co-occurrences
yǎn
0.5445,429 co-occurrences
kuàng
0.515315 co-occurrences
0.501753 co-occurrences
0.469168 co-occurrences
duò
0.463234 co-occurrences
hén
0.438426 co-occurrences
zhān
0.436174 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (10)

cuīlèi wǎsīHSK 7+

tear gas; lachrymator

noun
lèiliúmǎnmiànHSK 5+

to have tears streaming down one's face; to be extremely sad or moved

phrase
lèirúyǔxiàHSK 5+

to cry profusely

phrase
rèlèiyíngkuàngHSK 7+

to be moved to tears

phrase
shēnglèijùxiàHSK 6+

to cry and speak at the same time in a deeply sorrowful manner

phrase
tì lèi jiāo liúHSK 7+

tears and mucus flowing profusely (idiom); weeping tragically

phrase
yīzì yī lèiHSK 5+

each word is a teardrop; very pitiful; very pathetic

phrase
yǐlèixǐmiànHSK 5+

to grieve greatly; to be filled with sorrow

phrase
shānránlèixiàHSK 5+

cannot hold back one’s tears; tears running down one's cheek

phrase
lèishuǐ liánliánHSK 5+

to cry profusely

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

清晨的面波光粼粼,倒映着岸边的柳树。

qīng chén de lèi miàn bō guāng 粼 粼 , dǎo yìng zhe àn biān de liǔ shù .

The tear-like surface of the early morning water shimmers with light, reflecting the willow trees along the shore.

TvbsFeb 2026

吴中纯癌逝!女儿揭“5分钟拔管过程” 崩曝遗物:一辈子留着

wú zhōng chún ái shì ! nǚ ér jiē 5 fēn zhōng bá guǎn guò chéng lèi bēng pù yí wù : yī bèi zǐ liú zhe

Wu Zhongchun died of cancer! The daughter revealed the "5-minute extubation process" and burst into tears to expose the relics: keep them for a lifetime

EttodayFeb 2026

馒头妈生了!剖腹产下四宝“怎么那么痛”崩...爱女白皙萌样曝光

mán tóu mā shēng le ! pōu fù chǎn xià sì bǎo zěn má nà má tòng lèi bēng . . . ài nǚ bái 皙 méng yàng pù guāng

The steamed bun mother gave birth! Four treasures after giving birth by caesarean section "Why are they so painful" burst into tears... The beloved daughter's fair-skinned and cute appearance is exposed

Nownews今日新聞Feb 2026

林志杰谈家人崩30秒!黄金世代队友齐聚 揭“野兽”私...

lín zhì jié tán jiā rén lèi bēng 3 0 miǎo ! huáng jīn shì dài duì yǒu qí jù jiē yě shòu sī . . .

Lin Zhijie talked about his family and burst into tears for 30 seconds! Golden generation teammates gather to reveal the "beast" private...

LtnFeb 2026

...杰退休倒数计时盼再拚一冠!谈家人罕见感性崩(影音)

. . . jié tuì xiū dǎo shǔ jì shí pàn zài 拚 yī guàn ! tán jiā rén hǎn jiàn gǎn xìng lèi bēng ( yǐng yīn )

... Jie's retirement countdown is looking forward to another championship! Talking about the rare emotional tears of the family (video)

百度新闻Feb 2026

不到30小时连夺3金!他们的每一滴热,都写着“值..

bù dào 3 0 xiǎo shí lián duó 3 jīn ! tā men de měi yī dī rè lèi , dōu xiě zhe zhí . .

Win 3 gold medals in less than 30 hours! Every tear they shed was written "Value:

Tatoeba

警方将催弹投掷到了建筑中。

Jǐngfāng jiāng cuīlèidàn tóuzhì dào le jiànzhù zhōng.

The cops threw tear-gas bombs into the building.

Tatoeba

她的眼里涌出了水。

Tā de yǎn lǐ yǒngchū le lèishuǐ.

Her eyes gushed with tears.

Tatoeba

我没法忍住我的眼

Wǒ méifǎ rěn zhù wǒ de yǎnlèi.

I could not keep the tears from my eyes.

Tatoeba

他的眼里涌动着花。

Tā de yǎn lǐ yǒng dòng zhe lèihuā.

His eyes were filled with tears.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced lèi

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 泪 (lèi) mean in Chinese?
泪 (lèi) primarily means "(bound form) tears." It is classified as HSK Level 5, making it an advanced character. It ranks #1263 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 泪 have?
泪 is written with 8 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 泪?
The radical associated with 泪 is 氵 (water). This radical appears in many characters related to water.
What are the components of 泪?
泪 is composed of: 氵 (structural), 目 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰氵目 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 泪?
Common words with 泪 include: 眼泪 (yǎn lèi, "tear"); 流泪 (liú lèi, "to shed tears"); 泪水 (lèi shuǐ, "teardrop"); 落泪 (luò lèi, "to shed tears"); 催泪弹 (cuī lèi dàn, "tear bomb"). There are over 52 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 泪 (lèi)?
Several characters share the pronunciation lèi: 雷 (thunder), 垒 (rampart), 磊 (lumpy), 蕾 (bud), and 2 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 泪 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 泪 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.