Meaning of 悲惨
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- miserable
- tragic
How to use 悲惨
悲惨 describes situations, lives, fates or experiences that are terrible to witness, not a person's passing mood. It often appears before 的 to modify a noun, such as 悲惨的遭遇 (a tragic experience). Example: 他的童年很悲惨。(Tā de tóngnián hěn bēicǎn.) His childhood was miserable.
Both 悲 (bēi) and 惨 (cǎn) carry the heart radical: 悲 has 心 (xīn) at the bottom and 惨 has 忄 on the left. Two aching hearts side by side make a situation miserable and tragic.
Common mistake: Learners often use 悲惨 to mean they feel sad, as in 我很悲惨, but for your own feelings you should say 我很伤心 or 我很难过. Also watch the tone on 惨 (cǎn): it is third tone, not cān as in 参加 (cānjiā).
悲惨 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.
悲 bēi · sorrow · 12 strokes
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惨 cǎn · miserable · 11 strokes
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Related words
Words that share a character with 悲惨.
Questions about 悲惨
What does 悲惨 mean?
悲惨 (bēicǎn) means "miserable; tragic" and is used as a adjective.
How do you write 悲惨?
悲惨 is made of 2 characters: 悲 (12 strokes), 惨 (11 strokes). That is 23 strokes in total.
Is 悲惨 an HSK word?
Yes. 悲惨 is on the HSK 6 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
How is 悲惨 written in traditional Chinese?
In traditional characters, 悲惨 is written 悲慘.
What is the difference between 悲惨 and 悲伤?
悲伤 (bēishāng) is an emotion a person feels inside. 悲惨 (bēicǎn) describes how terrible a situation or fate is from the outside. A 悲惨 story can make you feel 悲伤.
Can I use 惨 by itself in casual speech?
Yes. In everyday talk people say 好惨 (hǎo cǎn) or 太惨了 (tài cǎn le) to mean something is awful or someone had bad luck, often half jokingly. 悲惨 sounds more serious and is common in writing and news.