HSK 4 · Verbs

抱歉 bàoqiàn “to be sorry” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 抱歉 means

  1. to be sorry
  2. to feel apologetic
  3. sorry!

How to say 抱歉

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale抱bào4th tone, falling
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale歉qiàn4th tone, falling

抱歉 in a sentence

  1. 让您等了很久，我很抱歉。

    Ràng nín děng le hěn jiǔ, wǒ hěn bàoqiàn.

    Sorry to have kept you waiting so long.

    Sentence #472339 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 抱歉，我迟到了。

    Bàoqiàn, wǒ chídào le.

    Sorry, I’m late.

    Sentence #2054806 from Tatoeba

  3. 很抱歉，我们不能接受你的要求。

    Hěn bàoqiàn, wǒmen bùnéng jiēshòu nǐ de yāoqiú.

    I’m very sorry, we can’t accept your request.

    Sentence #334200 from Tatoeba

How 抱歉 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 抱 (bào) with each of its parts in a different colour
抱bàoto hold
  • 扌hand form of 手 · shǒu
  • 包wrap · bāo
The character 歉 (qiàn) with each of its parts in a different colour
歉qiànto apologise
  • 兼both · jiānSound part
  • 欠yawn · qiànMeaning part

欠 hints at the meaning (yawn); 兼 (jiān) hints at the sound. Compare it with qiàn.

How to write 抱歉

抱 8 strokes · 歉 14 strokes

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

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

Words related to 抱歉

Words with 抱

抱bào · to hold拥抱yōngbào · to embrace抱怨bàoyuàn · to complain抱负bàofù · aspiration

Words with 歉

道歉dàoqiàn · to apologise

More words: Thinking & Talking

愿意yuànyì · be willing着急zháojí · to worry注意zhùyì · pay attention to保证bǎozhèng · guarantee表示biǎoshì · to express表扬biǎoyáng · to praise猜cāi · to guess成功chénggōng · success

FAQs

抱歉 (bàoqiàn) means “to be sorry” or “to feel apologetic”. It is an HSK 4 word.
Say it bàoqiàn: bào with a 4th tone, then qiàn with a 4th tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 抱歉 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type baoqian with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 抱歉 from the suggestions. Typing baoqian into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
抱歉 is an HSK 4 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.