HSK 6 · Adjectives

沉闷 chénmèn “oppressive” in Chinese

Traditional 沉悶

What 沉闷 means

  1. oppressive
  2. dull
  3. depressed
  4. oppressive (of weather)
  5. heavy
More meanings from CC-CEDICT
  • not happy
  • (of sound) dull
  • muffled

How to say 沉闷

  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale沉chén2nd tone, rising
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale闷mèn4th tone, falling

沉闷 in a sentence

  1. 这位老教授的讲座冗长而沉闷。

    Zhè wèi lǎo jiàoshòu de jiǎngzuò rǒngcháng ér chénmèn.

    The old professor’s lectures are long-winded and dull.

    Sentence #8791840 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 咖啡让我在沉闷的音乐会中保持清醒。

    Kāfēi ràng wǒ zài chénmèn de yīnyuèhuì zhōng bǎochí qīngxǐng.

    The coffee kept me awake through the dull concert.

    Sentence #846005 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

  3. 如果没有了音乐，这个世界就会变得十分沉闷。

    Rúguǒ méiyǒu le yīnyuè, zhè ge shìjiè jiù huì biàn de shífēn chénmèn.

    Without music, the world would be a very dull place.

    Sentence #473966 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

How 沉闷 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 沉 (chén) with each of its parts in a different colour
沉chénto submerge
  • 氵water form of 水 · shuǐ
  • 冗excessive · rǒng
The character 闷 (mèn) with each of its parts in a different colour
闷mènbored
  • 门gate · ménSound part
  • 心heart · xīnMeaning part

心 hints at the meaning (heart); 门 (mén) hints at the sound. Compare it with mèn.

How to write 沉闷

沉 7 strokes · 闷 7 strokes

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

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

Words related to 沉闷

Words with 沉

沉默chénmò · silent沉思chénsī · to ponder沉重chénzhòng · heavy沉着chénzhuó · calm and collected深沉shēnchén · deep沉淀chéndiàn · to settle

Words with 闷

纳闷儿nàmènr · to feel puzzled

More words: Adjectives

昌盛chāngshèng · prosperous畅通chàngtōng · unimpeded诚挚chéngzhì · sincere陈旧chénjiù · outdated沉重chénzhòng · heavy沉着chénzhuó · calm and collected迟钝chídùn · slow-witted迟缓chíhuǎn · slow

FAQs

沉闷 (chénmèn) means “oppressive” or “dull”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it chénmèn: chén with a 2nd tone, then mèn 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, 沉闷 is written 沉悶. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type chenmen with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 沉闷 from the suggestions. Typing chenmen into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
沉闷 is an HSK 6 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.