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

(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 (phonetic) and (semantic). It ranks #1455 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. to feel attached to
  2. to long for
  3. to love

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticheart

Decomposition: ⿱亦心 (layout: top-bottom)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

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

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
tóng xìng liànhomosexuality
mí liànto be infatuated with
liàn rénlover
chū liànfirst love
liàn qíngromantic love
liú liànreluctant to leave
rè liànto fall head over heels in love
ài liànin love with
yī liànto be fondly attached to
hūn wài liànsee 婚外情[hun1 wai4 qing2]
tān liànto cling to
liàn jiāhome-loving
liàn liàn bù shěreluctant to part
juàn liànto miss
liàn gēlove song
67
Total compounds
37
As first character
49
As last character
13
As middle character

appears in 67 compound words: 37 as the first character, 49 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 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

ài
0.56918,798 co-occurrences
xìng
0.49338,789 co-occurrences
àn
0.4665,976 co-occurrences
0.437729 co-occurrences
tóng
0.43431,582 co-occurrences
tān
0.421678 co-occurrences
0.4202,970 co-occurrences
nüè
0.4171,044 co-occurrences
0.4043,228 co-occurrences
qíng
0.39610,518 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (7)

liàn fù qíng jiéHSK 5+

Electra complex

phrase
liànliànbùshěHSK 5+

to be reluctant to part ways

phrase
liànmǔ qíngjiéHSK 5+

Oedipus complex

noun
sānjiǎo liàn'àiHSK 5+

love triangle

noun
shēngwúkěliànHSK 5+

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

phrase
yíqíngbiéliànHSK 5+

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

phrase
nú mǎ liàn zhànHSK 5+

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

汤姆是童癖患者。

Tāngmǔ shì liàntóngpǐ huànzhě.

Tom is a pedophile.

Tatoeba

听起来像是我爱了吗?

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

”你是异性还是女同?“”我是异性。“

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

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

Character Family

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 筑?
恋 (liàn) and 筑 (zhù) are often confused. antonym. The key distinguishing feature: 恋 (long) vs 筑 (short).
How many strokes does 恋 have?
恋 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 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 67 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 恋 (liàn)?
Several characters share the pronunciation liàn: 连 (to connect, even), 帘 (flag used as a shop sign), 怜 (to pity), 莲 (lotus), and 4 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 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.