可怜

Character by character

• 可kě5 strokesHSK 2may, can, -able; possibly
• 怜lián8 strokesHSK 4 traditional 憐pity, sympathize

Each character links to its stroke order page with a tracing and a writing exercise.

Example sentences

• 可怜的猫。

  Kě lián de māo

  Poor cat.

  Listen

• 可怜死了！

  Kě lián sǐ le

  How pitiful!

  Listen

• 她照顾可怜的小鸟。

  Tā zhào gu kě lián de xiǎo niǎo

  She took care of the poor little bird.

  Listen

• 你为什么这么可怜？

  Nǐ wèi shén me zhè me kě lián

  Why are you so unfortunate?

  Listen

Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR), contributed by their community.

Words with the same characters

These words share at least one character with 可怜. Reading them together is how the character starts to stick — the same characters in a different context.

• 可以kě yǐHSK 2

  can; may; possible; able to; not bad; pretty good

• 可kěHSK 5

  (prefix) can; may; able to; -able; to approve; to permit; to suit; (particle used for emphasis) certainly; very

• 可能kě néngHSK 2

  might (happen); possible; probable; possibility; probability; maybe; perhaps

• 可是kě shìHSK 2

  but; however; (used for emphasis) indeed

• 可爱kě àiHSK 2

  adorable; cute; lovely

• 可怕kě pàHSK 2

  awful; dreadful; fearful; formidable; frightful; scary; hideous; horrible; terrible; terribly

• 可惜kě xīHSK 5

  it is a pity; what a pity; unfortunately

• 可靠kě kàoHSK 3

  reliable

• 尽可能jǐn kě néngHSK 5

  as far as possible; to do one's utmost

• 不可思议bù kě sī yìHSK 7

  inconceivable (idiom); unimaginable; unfathomable

• 许可xǔ kěHSK 5

  to allow; to permit

• 认可rèn kěHSK 3

  to approve; approval; acknowledgment; OK

• 可笑kě xiàoHSK 7

  funny; ridiculous

• 可疑kě yíHSK 7

  suspicious; dubious

• 可乐kě lèHSK 3

  amusing; entertaining; (loanword) cola

• 许可证xǔ kě zhèngHSK 7

  license; authorization; permit

• 可恶kě wùHSK 7

  repulsive; vile; hateful; abominable

• 可行kě xíngHSK 7

  feasible

• 可悲kě bēiHSK 7

  lamentable

• 宁可nìng kěHSK 7

  preferably; one would prefer to...(or not to...); would rather; (would) be better to; (to pick) the lesser of two evils

• 即可jí kěHSK 7

  equivalent to 就可以; can then (do sth); can immediately (do sth); (do sth) and that will suffice

• 可不是kě bu shìHSK 7

  that's just the way it is; exactly!

• 不可避免bù kě bì miǎnHSK 7

  unavoidably

• 可见kě jiànHSK 4

  it can clearly be seen (that this is the case); it is (thus) clear; clear; visible