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惨痛 (cǎn tòng) — bitterly painful; tragic; grievous

Definition

Describes a deeply painful and tragic experience or lesson (教训, 记忆, 经历). Stronger and more catastrophic than 痛苦, and more emotionally bitter than 惨 alone.

adjective
bitterly painfultragicgrievous

Examples

  • 惨痛。
    Zhè cì shì gù de jiào xùn fēi cháng cǎn tòng.
    The lesson from this accident is extremely painful.
  • 惨痛。
    Tā yǒng yuǎn wú fǎ wàng jì nà duàn cǎn tòng de jì yì.
    He can never forget that painful memory.
  • 惨痛，。
    Jīng guò nà cì cǎn tòng de jīng lì, tā biàn de gèng jiān qiáng le.
    After that painful experience, he became stronger.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéCoordinate

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

惨cǎntragic
痛tòngpainful

惨 means tragic and 痛 means painful, together describing bitter distress.

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.

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.

Open 惨 →

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
疒疒nèillness
Sound part声符shēngfú
甬
甬yǒng痛tòng
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The 疒 part means illness, and 甬 gives the sound; together they form 痛, meaning pain or hurt.

Open 痛 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9Emotions & Feelings

Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.