怜 is a bound morpheme (b.f.) meaning 'to pity' or 'to have compassion for'. It cannot stand alone as a word; you must combine it with another morpheme to form common compounds like 可怜 (kělián, 'pitiful'), 怜悯 (liánmǐn, 'to pity'), or 怜惜 (liánxī, 'to take pity on'). The English gloss 'sympathy; pity' alone doesn't tell you it's a bound form — always use it inside a two-character word.