忍 (rěn): to bear, to endure, to tolerate
忍 (rěn) is a Chinese character meaning “to bear.” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 刃 (structural) and 心 (structural). It ranks #1125 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 忍 a knife 刃 piercing the heart 心; 刃 also provides the pronunciation. Its radical form 忄 (heart) appears in many related characters such as 忙 (máng, busy), 快 (kuài, fast, happy), 怎 (zěn, how).
Definitions
- to bear
- to endure
- to tolerate
Etymology & Origin
ideographicA knife 刃 piercing the heart 心; 刃 also provides the pronunciation
Decomposition: ⿱刃心 (layout: top-bottom)
Stroke Order
Practice writing 忍 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 忍
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 残忍 | cán rěn | cruel |
| 容忍 | róng rěn | to put up with |
| 忍不住 | rěn bu zhù | cannot help |
| 忍耐 | rěn nài | to endure |
| 忍心 | rěn xīn | to have the heart to do sth |
| 难以忍受 | nán yǐ rěn shòu | hard to endure |
| 忍无可忍 | rěn wú kě rěn | more than one can bear (idiom) |
| 惨不忍睹 | cǎn bù rěn dǔ | lit. so horrible that one cannot bear to look (idiom) |
| 忍气吞声 | rěn qì tūn shēng | to submit to humiliation (idiom) |
| 忍耐力 | rěn nài lì | patience |
| 忍痛 | rěn tòng | to suffer |
| 坚忍 | jiān rěn | persevering |
| 隐忍 | yǐn rěn | to suffer in silence |
| 忍让 | rěn ràng | to exercise forbearance |
| 忍辱负重 | rěn rǔ fù zhòng | to endure humiliation as part of an important mission (idiom) |
忍 appears in 53 compound words: 45 as the first character, 21 as the last, and 34 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 忍 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (19)
to silently eat humble pie; to suppress anger and quietly bear humiliation
Showing 12 of 19 idioms containing 忍.
Example Sentences
忍无可忍，他终于爆发了积压已久的情绪。
Rěn wú kě rěn, tā zhōngyú bàofā le jīyā yǐjiǔ de qíngxù.
Having reached the limit of his patience, he finally exploded with long-suppressed emotions.
...偷拍女客裙底 手机藏2千部影片辩“压力大忍不住”
. . . tōu pāi nǚ kè qún de shǒu jī zàng 2 qiān bù yǐng piàn biàn yā lì dà rěn bù zhù
... Secretly filmed the female guest's skirt and hid 2,000 videos on her mobile phone to defend "the pressure is so high that I can't help it"
...疑為黃偵琳酒駕爭議背書 賴瑞隆:酒駕零容忍
. . . yí 為 黃 偵 琳 jiǔ 駕 爭 議 bèi 書 賴 ruì lóng jiǔ 駕 líng róng rěn
... Suspected of endorsing Huang Jianlin's drunk driving controversy Lai Ruilong: There is zero tolerance for drunk driving
「小江蕙」大年初二喪母 忍悲3天曝噩耗
xiǎo jiāng 蕙 dà nián chū èr 喪 mǔ rěn bēi tiān pù 噩 hào
"Little Jiang Hui" Loses Mother on Second Day of Lunar New Year, Endures Grief for Three Days Before Revealing Tragic News
小江蕙81歲母親初二離世!陳思安忍3天痛揭噩耗:爸媽天上團聚了
xiǎo jiāng 蕙 歲 mǔ 親 chū èr 離 shì ! 陳 sī ān rěn tiān tòng jiē 噩 hào bà 媽 tiān shàng 團 jù le
Jasmine's 81 year old mother passed away on the second day of the month! The first time I've ever seen my mother die, I've never seen her again!
搭新幹線遇孩童狂踢椅背 近7成日本人選擇忍?坦言是怕「他們」
dā xīn 幹 線 yù hái tóng kuáng tī yǐ bèi jìn chéng rì běn rén 選 擇 rěn ? tǎn yán shì pà tā 們
Nearly 70% of Japanese choose to put up with children kicking the back of their seats on the new highway. They say they're afraid of them.
我无法忍受这噪音。
Wǒ wúfǎrěnshòu zhè zàoyīn.
I can't put up with the noise.
忍耐是最美的美德。
Rěnnài shì zuì měi de měidé.
Patience is the most beautiful virtue.
痛苦令人无法忍受。
Tòngkǔ lìngrén wúfǎrěnshòu.
The pain is unbearable.
汤姆拼命地忍住笑声。
Tāngmǔ pīnmìng de rěn zhù xiàoshēng.
Tom was trying hard not to laugh out loud.
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
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