恋 (liàn): to feel attached to, to long for, to love

恋 (liàn) is a Chinese character meaning “to feel attached to.” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 亦 (phonetic) and 心 (semantic). It ranks #1455 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

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

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to feel attached to
  2. to long for
  3. to love

Etymology & Origin

恋

pictophoneticheart

Decomposition: ⿱亦心 (layout: top-bottom)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 恋

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
恋爱verb/nounliàn ài(romantic) love5
失恋verbshī liànto lose one's love5

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
同性恋nountóng xìng liànhomosexuality
迷恋verbmí liànto be infatuated with
恋人nounliàn rénlover
初恋nounchū liànfirst love
恋情nounliàn qíngromantic love
留恋verbliú liànreluctant to leave
热恋verbrè liànto fall head over heels in love
爱恋verbài liànin love with
依恋verbyī liànto be fondly attached to
婚外恋nounhūn wài liànsee 婚外情
贪恋verbtān liànto cling to
恋家verbliàn jiāhome-loving
恋恋不舍phraseliàn liàn bù shěreluctant to part
眷恋verbjuàn liànto miss
恋歌nounliàn gēlove song
70
Total compounds
36
As first character
51
As last character
13
As middle character

恋 appears in 70 compound words: 36 as the first character, 51 as the last, and 13 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 恋 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

艰jiān
0.57512 co-occurrences
爱ài
0.4966,290 co-occurrences
性xìng
0.48912,924 co-occurrences
暗àn
0.4591,992 co-occurrences
侣lǚ
0.436247 co-occurrences
同tóng
0.43210,522 co-occurrences
龄líng
0.42412 co-occurrences
贪tān
0.415226 co-occurrences
异yì
0.414990 co-occurrences
虐nüè
0.411348 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (7)

恋父情结liàn fù qíng jiéHSK 5+

Electra complex

phrase
恋恋不舍liànliànbùshěHSK 5+

to be reluctant to part ways

phrase
恋母情结liànmǔ qíngjiéHSK 5+

Oedipus complex

noun
三角恋爱sānjiǎo liàn'àiHSK 5+

love triangle

noun
生无可恋shēngwúkěliànHSK 5+

there is nothing worth yearning for in this life; a life devoid of meaning

phrase
移情别恋yíqíngbiéliànHSK 5+

to turn one's back on one's lover and develop affection for another; to have a new sweetheart

phrase
驽马恋栈nú mǎ liàn zhàn

lit. a worn-out horse is reluctant to leave the stable (idiom); fig. a mediocre worker clings to a good position

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

听到这个好消息,她恋里充满了喜悦。

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

Upon hearing this good news, her heart was filled with joy.

中国军网Feb 2026

...发《关于做好边远艰苦地区和大龄未婚官兵婚恋服务工作的意见》

. . . fā guān yú zuò hǎo biān yuǎn jiān kǔ dì qū hé dà líng wèi hūn guān bīng hūn liàn fú wù gōng zuò de yì jiàn

... Issued the "Opinions on Doing a Good Job in Marriage and Love Services for Remote and Difficult Areas and Older Unmarried Officers and Soldiers"

LtnFeb 2026

独家》网恋台湾女视讯录“性影像”勒索 中国男疑设断...

dú jiā wǎng liàn tái wān nǚ shì xùn lù xìng yǐng xiàng lè suǒ zhōng guó nán yí shè duàn . . .

Exclusive" online dating Taiwanese female video recording "sexual image" blackmail Chinese man suspected of making a decision...

三立新聞網Feb 2026

田中千绘恋情曾掀波 冻卵细节首次曝光

tián zhōng qiān huì liàn qíng céng xiān bō dòng luǎn xì jié shǒu cì pù guāng

Chie Tanaka's love affair once made waves, and the details of egg freezing were exposed for the first time

Swi SwissinfoFeb 2026

瑞士同性恋群体担心仇视情绪反弹

ruì shì tóng xìng liàn qún tǐ dān xīn qiú shì qíng xù fǎn dàn

The Swiss gay community fears a backlash of hatred

EttodayFeb 2026

女总裁秘恋陈子强“金援数百万” 画作、代言全买单....

nǚ zǒng cái mì liàn chén zǐ qiáng jīn yuán shǔ bǎi wàn huà zuò , dài yán quán mǎi dān . . . .

The female president secretly loves Chen Ziqiang "millions of dollars" paintings and endorsements are all paid....

Tatoeba

汤姆是恋童癖患者。

Tāngmǔ shì liàntóngpǐ huànzhě.

Tom is a pedophile.

Tatoeba

听起来像是我恋爱了吗?

Tīngqilai xiàng shì wǒ liàn'ài le ma?

Do I sound in love?

Tatoeba

欣怡最近瘦好多喔,是去健身房还是失恋啊?

Xīn yí zuì jìn shòu hǎoduō ō, shì qù jiànshēnfáng háishi shīliàn ā?

Hsin-yi got so much slimmer lately. Is it gym or heartbreak?

Tatoeba

”你是异性恋还是女同?“”我是异性恋。“

"nǐ shì yìxìngliàn háishi nǚtóng?""wǒ shì yìxìngliàn."

"Are you hetero or lesbian?" "I am hetero."

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 心 (heart) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced liàn

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 恋 (liàn) mean in Chinese?
恋 (liàn) primarily means "to feel attached to." It is classified as HSK Level 5, making it an advanced character. It ranks #1455 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 恋 and 恨?
恋 (liàn) and 恨 (hèn) are often confused. antonym. The key distinguishing feature: 恋 (love) vs 恨 (hate).
How many strokes does 恋 have?
恋 is written with 10 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 恋?
The radical associated with 恋 is 忄 (heart). This radical appears in many characters related to heart.
What are the components of 恋?
恋 is composed of: 亦 (phonetic), 心 (semantic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱亦心 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 恋?
Common words with 恋 include: 同性恋 (tóng xìng liàn, "homosexuality"); 恋爱 (liàn ài, "(romantic) love"); 迷恋 (mí liàn, "to be infatuated with"); 恋人 (liàn rén, "lover"); 初恋 (chū liàn, "first love"). There are over 70 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 恋 (liàn)?
Several characters share the pronunciation liàn: 联 (connect, unite), 连 (to connect, even), 脸 (face), 练 (to practice), and 3 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 恋 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 恋 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 恋 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.