腼腆 (miǎn tiǎn) — shy, bashful
Definition
腼腆 describes a reserved, quiet shyness, usually about demeanor (not liking to speak up in front of others). 比 害羞 更书面, and has no sense of moral shame like 羞耻 / 羞愧.
adjective
shybashful
Examples
- 腼腆，。Tā shì yí gè hěn miǎn tiǎn de nǚ hái, bú tài ài shuō huà.She is a very shy girl who doesn't like to talk much.
- ，腼腆。Zài mò shēng rén miàn qián, tā xiǎn de tè bié miǎn tiǎn.In front of strangers, he appears especially shy.
- 腼腆，。Suī rán tā hěn miǎn tiǎn, dàn hé péng you zài yì qǐ shí què hěn huó pō.Although he is shy, he is very lively when with friends.
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.
腼miǎn
腆tiǎn
腼 and 腆 carry no meaning of their own here; together they mean shy or bashful.
Sound-only characters
Appears in
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