Definition
冤 (yuān) is a noun or adjective meaning 'injustice' or 'wronged' — it refers to a specific, objective injustice or being treated unfairly. It differs from 委屈 (wěi qu), which is a subjective feeling of being wronged, and from 冤枉 (yuān wang), which focuses on being wrongly accused or an action being a waste.
noun
injusticegrievance
adjective
wrongedunjust
Easily confused
- 员yuánsound-alike(suffix) person; employee; member
- 远yuǎnsound-alikefar, distant (in space or time)
- 愿yuànsound-aliketo wish, to hope (often used in blessings and formal expressions)
- 元yuánsound-alike(classifier) yuan, the basic unit of Chinese currency
- 原yuánsound-alikeoriginal, former
- 圆yuánsound-alike(noun) circle
- 怨yuànsound-aliketo blame, to complain (with a sense of grievance)
- 园yuánsound-alikegarden; park; (in compounds) a place for a specific purpose (e.g., kindergarten, botanical garden)
Examples
- ，。Tā shòu le hěn dà de yuān qū, què wúfǎ shēnsù.He suffered a great injustice but couldn't appeal.
- ，。Zhè jiàn shì zhēn shì yuān wang, tā gēnběn méi zuò cuò shénme.This matter is really unjust; he didn't do anything wrong at all.
- ，。Bié hǎn yuān, zhèngjù jiù zài zhèlǐ.Don't cry injustice; the evidence is right here.
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