(hèn) — to hate; to regret

Definition

恨 (hèn) covers two unrelated senses: 'to hate' (people, unfairness — stronger and more personal than 厌恶 'loathe') and, as in 悔恨, 'to regret deeply' — stronger and more literary than 后悔.

verb
to hateto regret

Examples

  • Wǒ hèn nà xiē shuō jiǎ huà de rén.
    I hate those people who tell lies.
  • Tā huǐ hèn dāng chū méi yǒu nǔ lì xué xí.
    He regretted not having studied hard back then.
  • Wǒ hèn zhè zhǒng bù gōng píng de shì qing.
    I hate this kind of unfair thing.

Origin

Sound + meaning
六书liùshū
形声xíngshēng

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

Meaning part形符xíngfú
Written in full asxīnheart; thought; emotion
Sound part声符shēngfú
gènhèn
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The left side 忄 is the heart, pointing to an emotion such as regret or hate. The right side 艮 supplies the sound.

Browse more HSK 6 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.