Meaning of 偶然
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- incidentally
- occasional
- occasionally
- by chance
- randomly
How to use 偶然
偶然 describes something that happens by chance or not as part of a pattern. It works as an adjective (偶然的机会, a chance opportunity) or as an adverb before a verb. Example: 我是偶然认识他的。(Wǒ shì ǒurán rènshi tā de.) I met him by chance.
偶 (ǒu) means a pair or an even match, like two people who happen to meet, and 然 (rán) is a common ending meaning "in this way." Picture two strangers bumping into each other by chance: that meeting is 偶然.
Common mistake: Learners often mix up 偶然 with 偶尔 (ǒu'ěr). 偶尔 means "once in a while" and only describes frequency. 偶然 stresses chance or accident, so 我偶尔喝咖啡 means "I sometimes drink coffee," while 偶然 there would sound odd. Also, 偶 is third tone, not fourth.
偶然 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Stroke order for each character
Open a character for its meaning, components and more words.
偶 ǒu · accidentally · 11 strokes
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然 rán · certainly · 12 strokes
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Related words
Words that share a character with 偶然.
| 然后 | ránhòu | then; after that; afterwards |
| 虽然 | suīrán | although; even though (often used correlatively with 可是[ke3 shi4] or 但是[dan4 shi4] etc) |
| 大自然 | dàzìrán | nature (the natural world) |
| 忽然 | hūrán | suddenly; all of a sudden |
| 当然 | dāngrán | only natural; as it should be |
| 突然 | tūrán | sudden; abrupt; unexpected |
| 仍然 | réngrán | still; as before; yet |
| 显然 | xiǎnrán | clearly; evidently; obviously |
| 自然 | zìrán | nature; natural |
| 果然 | guǒrán | really; sure enough |
| 必然 | bìrán | inevitable; certain |
| 不然 | bùrán | not so; no |
Questions about 偶然
What does 偶然 mean?
偶然 (ǒurán) means "incidentally; occasional" and is used as a adjective.
How do you write 偶然?
偶然 is made of 2 characters: 偶 (11 strokes), 然 (12 strokes). That is 23 strokes in total.
Is 偶然 an HSK word?
Yes. 偶然 is on the HSK 5 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
What is the opposite of 偶然?
The usual opposite is 必然 (bìrán), meaning inevitable or bound to happen. The pair often appears together, as in 这不是偶然的，是必然的 (This was not by chance, it was inevitable).
How is 偶然 different from 突然?
突然 (tūrán) means sudden and focuses on how quickly something happens. 偶然 focuses on the lack of plan or cause. A chance meeting is 偶然, while rain that starts all at once is 突然.