惨

慘

cǎn

参 + 忄

HSK 3.0Level 7

Definitions

cǎn (adjective) miserable; wretched

cǎn (adjective) cruel; inhuman

cǎn (adjective) disastrous; tragic

cǎn (adjective) dim; gloomy

Etymology

Phonosemantic compound. 忄 represents the meaning and 参 represents the sound. Simplified form of 慘.

Semantic: 忄 Phonetic: 参

About

惨 expresses intense negative emotions, tragedy, misery, cruelty, or deep sorrow. It is a phono-semantic compound: the radical 忄 (xīn, the "vertical heart") signals an emotional or psychological category, while 参 (cān) supplies the pronunciation. The character is the simplified form of 慘, where the traditional phonetic 參 was reduced to 参 without changing the sound or the tragic meaning.

Etymology Hide

Seal Shuowen (~100 AD)

Clerical Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)

Clerical Cao Wei (Three Kingdoms: 222-280 AD)

Traditional Modern

Simplified Modern

Example Sentences Hide

这次事故很惨。

Zhè cì shìgù hěn cǎn.

This accident was very tragic.

他丢了钱包，真惨。

Tā diū le qiánbāo, zhēn cǎn.

He lost his wallet; that's really unfortunate.

她的经历十分悲惨。

Tā de jīnglì shífēn bēicǎn.

Her experience was extremely miserable.

战争的惨状令人心痛。

Zhànzhēng de cǎnzhuàng lìng rén xīntòng.

The horrors of war are heartbreaking.

灾后的景象惨不忍睹。

Zāi hòu de jǐngxiàng cǎn bù rěn dǔ.

The scene after the disaster was too horrible to look at.

这场比赛我们输得太惨了。

Zhè chǎng bǐsài wǒmen shū dé tài cǎn le.

We lost this match too badly.

那段惨痛的历史不能被忘记。

Nà duàn cǎntòng de lìshǐ bù néng bèi wàngjì.

That painful history must not be forgotten.

经济衰退导致公司业绩惨淡。

Jīngjì shuāituì dǎozhì gōngsī yèjì cǎndàn.

The economic recession led to dismal company performance.

Related Characters

Component: 参

Component: 忄

惨