(yuàn): to blame, (bound form) resentment, hatred, grudge

(yuàn) is a Chinese character meaning “to blame.” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (phonetic) and (semantic). It ranks #1626 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 blame
  2. (bound form) resentment
  3. hatred
  4. grudge

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticheart

Decomposition: ⿱夗心 (layout: top-bottom)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

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
verbbào yuànto complain5

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
ēn yuàngratitude and grudges
yuàn hènto resent
mán yuànto complain
yuàn yáncomplaint
yuàn qìgrievance
wú yuàn wú huǐno complaints
yuàn tiān yóu rén(idiom) to blame the gods and accuse others
宿sù yuànan old grudge
jī yuàngrievance
āi yuàngrief
rèn láo rèn yuànto work hard without complaint (idiom)
yuàn shēng zài dàolit. cries of complaint fill the roads (idiom)
jié yuànto arouse dislike
yōu yuànhidden bitterness
chóu yuànhatred and desire for revenge
51
Total compounds
43
As first character
43
As last character
14
As middle character

appears in 51 compound words: 43 as the first character, 43 as the last, and 14 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.

bào
0.70622,833 co-occurrences
hèn
0.69717,076 co-occurrences
mái
0.4912,554 co-occurrences
ēn
0.4819,666 co-occurrences
qiú
0.4792,868 co-occurrences
fèi
0.463642 co-occurrences
huǐ
0.441966 co-occurrences
fèn
0.425558 co-occurrences
āi
0.414972 co-occurrences
guī
0.406126 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (11)

西dōng zhēng xī yuànHSK 5+

war on all sides (idiom); fighting from all four quarters

phrase
mán tiān yuàn dìHSK 6+

lit. to blame the heavens and reproach the earth; fig. to rave and rant

phrase
mín yuàn fèi téngHSK 7+

seething discontent (idiom); popular grievances boil over

phrase
rèn láo rèn yuànHSK 5+

to work hard without complaint (idiom)

phrase
wú yuàn wú huǐHSK 5+

no complaints; to have no regrets

phrase
yǐdébàoyuànHSK 6+

to return good for evil; to return kindness for injury

phrase
yuàn qì chōng tiānHSK 5+

(idiom) extremely resentful

phrase
yuànshēngzàidàoHSK 5+

public discontent is everywhere; discontent is publicly voiced; complaints rise all around

phrase
yuàntiān-yóurénHSK 5+

to blame god and man; to blame everyone and everything but oneself

phrase
zìyuànzìyìHSK 7+

to be full of remorse and self-reproach

phrase
liǔ tí huā yuànHSK 7+

desolate

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

甘情愿地帮助每一个需要帮助的人。

tā yuàn gān qíng yuàn dì bāng zhù měi yī gě xū yāo bāng zhù de rén .

He willingly helps everyone in need.

Am730Mar 2026

...油价格飊涨 曼谷多个油站无油卖或限购惹民

. . . yóu jià gé 飊 zhǎng 曼 gǔ duō gè yóu zhàn wú yóu mài huò xiàn gòu rě mín yuàn

...With oil prices soaring, many gas stations in Bangkok have run out of fuel or are imposing purchase limits, sparking public outrage

EttodayMar 2026

球被踢飞!家长暴怒冲回校“掐脖呛单挑” ...

ér yuàn qiú bèi tī fēi ! jiā cháng bào nù chōng huí jiào qiā bó qiàng dān tiāo . . .

Boy complains ball was kicked away! Enraged parent storms back to school, grabs him by the throat and challenges him to a fight...

EttodayMar 2026

刘朴旧疾复发“抱陈大天装死” 委屈泪喊:谁来理解我

liú pǔ jiù jí fù fā bào yuàn chén dà tiān zhuāng sǐ wěi qū lèi hǎn : shéi lái lǐ jiě wǒ

Liu Pu’s old ailment flares up; he “complains that Chen Datian is playing dead” and cries out in frustration: “Who will understand me?”

Intimes NewsFeb 2026

...ee As2”四足机械人 上山下海任劳任

. . . e e A s 2 sì zú jī xiè rén shàng shān xià hǎi rèn láo rèn yuàn

... ee AS2 "four-legged robot works hard and complains about going up the mountain and down to the sea

東森新聞Feb 2026

输不起?客飞镖全射中 老板才喊不能混色

shū bù qǐ ? kè yuàn fēi 镖 quán shè zhōng lǎo bǎn cái hǎn bù néng hùn sè

Can't afford to lose? The guest complained that the darts were all shot, and the boss shouted that he couldn't mix colors

Tatoeba

我厌倦了她的抱

Wǒ yànjuàn le tā de bàoyuàn.

I'm tired of her complaints.

Tatoeba

汤姆一定会抱的。

Tāngmǔ yīdìng huì bàoyuàn de.

Tom's sure to complain.

Tatoeba

他一直抱他的房间很小。

Tā yīzhí bàoyuàn tā de fángjiān hěn xiǎo.

He is always complaining of his room being small.

Tatoeba

他的埋没有尽头。

Tā de mányuàn méiyǒu jìntóu.

There is no end to his complaining.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced yuàn

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 怨 (yuàn) mean in Chinese?
怨 (yuàn) primarily means "to blame." It is classified as HSK Level 5, making it an advanced character. It ranks #1626 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 怨 have?
怨 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 怨?
The radical associated with 怨 is 忄 (heart). This radical appears in many characters related to heart.
What are the components of 怨?
怨 is composed of: 夗 (phonetic), 心 (semantic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱夗心 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 怨?
Common words with 怨 include: 抱怨 (bào yuàn, "to complain"); 恩怨 (ēn yuàn, "gratitude and grudges"); 怨恨 (yuàn hèn, "to resent"); 埋怨 (mán yuàn, "to complain"); 怨言 (yuàn yán, "complaint"). There are over 51 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 怨 (yuàn)?
Several characters share the pronunciation yuàn: 元 (Yuan dynasty (1279–1368)), 员 (member, staff), 园 (land used for growing plants), 原 (former), and 6 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 怨 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 怨 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.