怜 meaning and stroke order
To pity, to sympathize with
How to write 怜, stroke by stroke
8 strokes in order. Each box adds the next stroke in red. Write top to bottom and left to right, and finish enclosing strokes last.
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Meaning of 怜
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- to pity
How 怜 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Heart.
忄 gives the meaning and 令 hints at the sound.
Radical: 忄 (heart), shared by 167 characters on this site.
How to remember 怜
The heart radical 忄 on the left shows this is a feeling, and 令 (lìng) on the right gives the sound, close to lián. Picture your heart responding when someone gives an order to a weak person, and you feel pity for them.
怜 rarely stands alone in everyday speech. It mostly appears in words like 可怜 (kělián), which is very common, and in more formal words like 怜悯 (liánmǐn) and 怜惜 (liánxī). Example: 这只小狗真可怜。(Zhè zhī xiǎo gǒu zhēn kělián.) This puppy is really pitiful.
Common mistake: Learners often confuse 怜 with 冷 (lěng, cold) and 铃 (líng, bell), because all three use 令 on the right. Check the left side: 忄 means heart for 怜, 冫 means ice for 冷, and 钅 means metal for 铃.
Common words with 怜
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
怜 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Questions about 怜
How many strokes are in 怜?
怜 is written with 8 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 怜 mean?
怜 (lián) means to pity, to sympathize with. A common word with it is 可怜 (kělián), meaning "pitiful; pathetic".
How do you pronounce 怜?
怜 is pronounced lián, in the second tone (rising).
What is the radical of 怜?
The radical of 怜 is 忄, which carries the idea of "heart". Dictionaries list 怜 under this radical.
What is the traditional form of 怜?
The traditional form of 怜 is 憐. Traditional characters are used in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau; 怜 is the simplified form used in mainland China and Singapore.
Is 怜 on the HSK exam?
Yes. 怜 is part of the HSK 5 character list in the HSK 3.0 standard.
Can 可怜 be used as an insult?
Yes. Depending on tone, 可怜 can mean pathetic instead of pitiable, as in 你真可怜 said with contempt. 可怜虫 (kěliánchóng) is clearly negative and calls someone a wretch.
What is the difference between 怜悯 and 同情?
同情 (tóngqíng) is the everyday word for sympathy and suggests feeling with someone as an equal. 怜悯 (liánmǐn) is more formal and can imply looking down with pity on someone in a weaker position.