(kě lián) - pitiful, poor, pathetic in Mandarin
kěliánTraditional: 可憐
HSK 4
#835 of 5,000 Core 1000
Translation
pitiful, poor, pathetic
Word origin
可怜 means pitiful or poor. 可 (kě) means worthy of or able. 怜 (lián) means to pity, a phono-semantic compound with the 忄 'heart' radical and phonetic 令 (lìng); simplified from 憐.
- Origin
- compound
- Root
- 可 (kě, worthy of) + 怜 (lián, to pity)
Stroke order
可
怜
Examples
。
That little cat is really pitiful.
境。
His situation is really pathetic.
。
Don't pity me.
。
This little child is so pitiful.
。
His salary is pitifully low.
可怜 (kě lián) means pitiful, poor, pathetic. It is used as an adjective in everyday Mandarin speech.
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Go to my review queueThis word is part of lesson 17.