憔悴 (qiáo cuì) — (of a person) wan and sallow; thin and pallid; haggard
Definition
Describes a person's haggard, worn-out appearance (face, complexion) from fatigue or illness — a visible look, not general weakness like 虚弱 or old-age frailty like 衰老.
adjective
(of a person) wan and sallowthin and pallidhaggard
Examples
- ，憔悴。Tā zuì jìn gōng zuò tài máng, kàn qǐ lái hěn qiáo cuì.He's been too busy with work recently, and looks haggard.
- ，，憔悴。Shēng bìng yǐ hòu, tā jiàn jiàn huī fù le, bú zài nà me qiáo cuì.After being sick, she gradually recovered and no longer looked so haggard.
- ，憔悴。Tā yīn wèi lián xù sān tiān méi yǒu shuì jiào, liǎn sè shí fēn qiáo cuì.Because he hadn't slept for three days in a row, his complexion was very haggard.
Origin
Single-morpheme word构词法gòucífǎ
联绵liánmiánBound pair
Two characters that only ever appear together, spelling one ancient two-syllable word.
憔qiáo
悴cuì
憔 and 悴 carry no meaning of their own here; together describe a haggard look.
Sound-only characters
Appears in
Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.