怜 (lián): to pity
怜 (lián) is a Chinese character meaning “to pity.” Classified as HSK Level 6 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 忄 (semantic) and 令 (phonetic). It ranks #1588 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 怜 heart. Its radical form 忄 (heart) appears in many related characters such as 忙 (máng, busy), 快 (kuài, fast, happy), 怎 (zěn, how).
Definitions
- to pity
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
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Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 怜
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 怜悯verb | lián mǐn | to take pity on |
| 可怜虫noun | kě lián chóng | pitiful creature |
| 同病相怜phrase | tóng bìng xiāng lián | fellow sufferers empathize with each other (idiom) |
| 乞怜verb | qǐ lián | to beg for pity |
| 可怜巴巴adjective | kě lián bā bā | pathetic |
| 怜惜verb | lián xī | to take pity on |
| 怜爱verb | lián ài | to have tender affection for |
| 爱怜verb | ài lián | to show tenderness |
| 怜恤verb | lián xù | to take pity |
| 哀怜verb | āi lián | to feel compassion for |
| 由怜生爱 | yóu lián shēng ài | to develop love for sb out of pity for them |
| 可怜见adjective | kě lián jiàn | (coll.) pitiable |
| 顾影自怜 | gù yǐng zì lián | lit. looking at one's shadow and feeling sorry for oneself (idiom) |
| 自艾自怜 | zì yì zì lián | (idiom) to feel sorry for oneself |
| 楚楚可怜phrase | chǔ chǔ kě lián | (idiom) pitiable |
怜 appears in 22 compound words: 27 as the first character, 45 as the last, and 27 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 怜 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (7)
lit. looking at one's shadow and feeling sorry for oneself (idiom); fig. alone and dejected
in the same boat; fellow sufferers sympathise with each other; misery loves company
lit. looking at one's shadow and feeling sorry for oneself (idiom); fig. alone and dejected
in the same boat; fellow sufferers sympathise with each other; misery loves company
Example Sentences
怜香惜玉，温柔体贴。
Lián xiāng xī yù, wēnróu tǐtiē.
Cherish and care for loved ones tenderly.
忽略可怜的屏占比，屏幕素质其实算得上是第一梯队。
hū lüè kě lián de bǐng zhàn bǐ , bǐng mù sù zhì qí shí suàn dé shàng shì dì yī tī duì .
Despite its poor screen-to-body ratio, the display quality is actually top-tier.
个别自媒体为了博取那点可怜的点赞和转发量，拿着几个拼凑出来的法律名词四处忽悠。
gè bié zì méi tǐ wéi le bó qǔ nà diǎn kě lián de diǎn zàn hé zhuǎn fā liàng , ná zhe jī gè pīn còu chū lái de fǎ lǜ míng cí sì chǔ hū yōu .
Some individual content creators, in an effort to garner a few measly likes and shares, go around spouting a jumble of legal terms to mislead people.
《苦凤莺怜》压轴登场。
kǔ fèng yīng lián yā zhóu dēng chǎng .
"The Sorrowful Oriole's Lament" takes the stage as the finale.
可怜!2个月狂刷1500张发票10张中奖 下...
kě lián ! 2 gè yuè kuáng shuā 1 5 0 0 zhāng fā piào 1 0 zhāng zhōng jiǎng xià . . .
How unfortunate! He checked 1,500 receipts in two months and only 10 were winners...
晚安小鸡满脸胡子遭酸装可怜 喊冤揭原因
wǎn ān xiǎo jī mǎn liǎn hú zǐ zāo suān zhuāng kě lián hǎn yuān jiē yuán yīn
Good Night, Little Chicken: Mocked for His Full Face of Beard, He Plays the Victim and Pleads Innocence, Revealing the Reason
可怜的人民任凭残暴的独裁者处置。
Kělián de rénmín rènpíng cánbào de dúcáizhě chǔzhì.
The poor people were at the mercy of the cruel dictator.
你为什么这么可怜？
Nǐ wèishénme zhème kělián?
Why are you so unfortunate?
可怜的猫！ 她无法抓住敏捷的老鼠。
Kělián de māo! Tā wúfǎ zhuāzhù mǐnjié de lǎoshǔ.
Poor cat! She can't catch the nimble mouse.
这里附近的电话亭少得可怜。
Zhèlǐ fùjìn de diànhuàtíng shǎo de kělián.
Telephone booths are as scarce as hen's teeth around here.
Character Family
Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 忄 (heart) component
Frequently Asked Questions
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What is the radical of 怜?
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Is 怜 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
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