凄惨 (qī cǎn) — wretched, miserable, tragic, heartbreaking

Definition

adjective

wretchedmiserabletragicheartbreaking

凄惨。
Nà ge liú làng hàn de shēng huó hěn qī cǎn.
That homeless person's life was wretched.
凄惨。
Diàn yǐng jiǎng shù le qī cǎn de gù shi.
The movie told a tragic story.
凄惨。
Tā chàng de gē tīng qǐ lái hěn qī cǎn.
The song she sang sounded heartbreaking.

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

联合liánhéCoordinate

Two parts of equal weight, alike or opposite in meaning, standing side by side.

凄qīdesolate

desolate and tragic together convey a wretched, heartrending state.

Characters in this word

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

冫妻凄

Meaning part形符xíngfú

冫Written in full as仌bīngice

Sound part声符shēngfú

妻

Same sound today

凄 combines 冫 (ice, written fully as 仌) to show cold with 妻 to give the sound.

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 慘; 惨 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

心心xīnheart

Sound part声符shēngfú

參

參cān慘cǎn

Same sound today

The traditional form 慘 puts 心 (heart) with 參 as its sound part. The simplified 惨 is a later shorthand, so its shape is not the historical form.

Appears in