黯然 (àn rán) — dim, faint, gloomy (of light or color); dejected, sad, downcast (of mood or expression)

Definition

A literary word describing light/color fading or a mood growing dark with sadness. Most often seen in fixed phrases like 黯然失色 ('pale in comparison') and 黯然泪下 ('to shed tears in sorrow').

verb
dimfaintgloomy (of light or color)dejectedsaddowncast (of mood or expression)
Easily confused

Examples

  • ，黯然。
    Tīng dào zhè ge xiāo xi, tā àn rán luò lèi.
    Upon hearing the news, he shed tears in dejection.
  • ，黯然。
    Xī yáng xī xià, tiān sè àn rán.
    The sun set in the west, and the sky grew dim.
  • ，。
    Zài zhè qún tiān cái miàn qián, tā de zuò pǐn àn rán shī sè.
    In front of these geniuses, his work was overshadowed.

Origin

Derived word
构词法gòucífǎ
后缀hòuzhuìSuffix

A fixed syllable at the end that turns the word into a noun, a person, a place or the like.

黯àndark
然rán

The dark or faint sense of 黯, with 然, gives a gloomy or downcast appearance.

Characters in this word

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

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
火火huǒfire
Sound part声符shēngfú
肰
肰rán然rán
Same sound today

然 is made from 肰, which gives the sound, and 火, which shows fire, matching the old sense 'to burn'.

Open 然 →

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