DICTIONARY
The Chinese word kelian - 可怜 - kělián
(pitiful in Chinese)
Phonetic script (Hanyu Pinyin)
kělián
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English translations
pitiful, to take compassion on,
meager, to have pity on, wretched
Chinese characters:
For obtaining stroke order animations, visit the links to the individual characters below.
可怜 ( kelian / kělián ) in traditional characters
可憐
Chinese Pinyin example sentence with 可怜 ( kelian / kělián ) ⓘWriting in Pinyin
Before using this Pinyin example sentence, consider that Chinese characters should always be your first choice in written communication.
If you cannot use Chinese characters, it is preferable to use the Pinyin with tones. Only use the Pinyin without tones if there's no other option (e.g. writing a text message from/to a mobile phone that doesn't support special characters such as ā, í, ǒ, ù).
Before using this Pinyin example sentence, consider that Chinese characters should always be your first choice in written communication.
If you cannot use Chinese characters, it is preferable to use the Pinyin with tones. Only use the Pinyin without tones if there's no other option (e.g. writing a text message from/to a mobile phone that doesn't support special characters such as ā, í, ǒ, ù).
Zhe zhi xiaogou zhen kelian.
Zhè zhī xiǎogǒu zhēn kělián.– English translation: This puppy is really pitiful.
Tags and additional information
(Meaning of individual characters, character components etc.)
can | to pity
可怜 ( kelian / kělián ) belongs to the 500 most common composed words in Chinese language (rank 472)
可怜 ( kelian / kělián ) belongs to the 500 most common composed words in Chinese language (rank 472)
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All words in this dictionary (more to come) were taken from the multimedia Chinese learning software Han Trainer Pro.
This Chinese-English dictionary is currently under development.
This Chinese-English dictionary is currently under development.
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Version 5.52 / Last updated: 2026-11-03