HSK 5 · Emotions

惭愧 cánkuì “ashamed” in Chinese

Traditional 慚愧

What 惭愧 means

  1. ashamed

How to say 惭愧

  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale惭cán2nd tone, rising
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale愧kuì4th tone, falling

惭愧 in a sentence

  1. 我对我自己感到惭愧。

    Wǒ duì wǒ zìjǐ gǎndào cánkuì.

    I’m ashamed of myself.

    Sentence #745884 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 我很惭愧，这是我第一次对我爸说谎。

    Wǒ hěn cánkuì, zhè shì wǒ dì-yī cì duì wǒ bà shuōhuǎng.

    I’m so ashamed: this is the first time I’ve ever lied to my dad.

    Sentence #1948458 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 惭愧 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 惭 (cán) with each of its parts in a different colour
惭cánashamed
  • 忄heart form of 心 · xīnMeaning part
  • 斩to chop · zhǎnSound part

忄 hints at the meaning (heart); 斩 (zhǎn) hints at the sound. Compare it with cán.

The character 愧 (kuì) with each of its parts in a different colour
愧kuìashamed
  • 忄heart form of 心 · xīnMeaning part
  • 鬼ghost · guǐSound part

忄 hints at the meaning (heart); 鬼 (guǐ) hints at the sound. Compare it with kuì.

How to write 惭愧

惭 11 strokes · 愧 12 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

惭愧 (cánkuì) stroke order chart: each stroke of the characters in the order you write them
Stroke order chart for 惭愧 (cánkuì). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 惭愧

Words with 愧

不愧búkuì · to be worthy of

More words: Emotions & Attitudes

爱心àixīn · compassion安慰ānwèi · to comfort表情biǎoqíng · (facial) expression操心cāoxīn · to worry about倒霉dǎoméi · to have bad luck发愁fāchóu · to worry感激gǎnjī · to be grateful自满zìmǎn · complacent

FAQs

惭愧 (cánkuì) means “ashamed”. It is an HSK 5 word.
Say it cánkuì: cán with a 2nd tone, then kuì with a 4th tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
In Traditional characters, used in Taiwan and Hong Kong, 惭愧 is written 慚愧. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type cankui with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 惭愧 from the suggestions. Typing cankui into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
惭愧 is an HSK 5 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.