HSK 6 · Emotions

感慨 gǎnkǎi “to sigh with emotion” in Chinese

Said as gánkǎi

Same in Traditional

What 感慨 means

  1. to sigh with emotion
  2. to be moved
  3. to sigh with sorrow, regret etc
  4. rueful
  5. deeply moved

How to say 感慨

  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale感gǎn3rd tone, dipping
  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale慨kǎi3rd tone, dipping

Said as gánkǎi. When two third tones meet, the first one rises into a second tone. You still write it with two third tones. How tone changes work

感慨 in a sentence

  1. 看着老照片，他感慨万千。

    Kàn zhe lǎo zhàopiàn, tā gǎnkǎi wànqiān.

    Looking at the old photos, he was flooded with emotion.

    Sentence by WillyChina

  2. 她感慨地说：“时间过得真快啊！”

    Tā gǎnkǎi de shuō: “Shíjiān guò de zhēn kuài a!”

    She sighed, “Time really flies!”

    Sentence by WillyChina

How 感慨 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 感 (gǎn) with each of its parts in a different colour
感gǎnto feel
  • 咸all · xián
  • 心heart · xīn

Memory aidHeart 心 with 咸 (xián) for the sound: to feel.

The character 慨 (kǎi) with each of its parts in a different colour
慨kǎito sigh
  • 忄heart form of 心 · xīnMeaning part
  • 既already · jìSound part

忄 hints at the meaning (heart); 既 (jì) hints at the sound. Compare it with kǎi.

How to write 感慨

感 13 strokes · 慨 12 strokes

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

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

Words related to 感慨

Words with 感

感冒gǎnmào · catch cold感到gǎndào · to feel感兴趣gǎn xìngqù · be interested in感gǎn · (suffix) sense of …感觉gǎnjué · feeling感谢gǎnxiè · (express) thanks感动gǎndòng · to be moved感情gǎnqíng · emotion感受gǎnshòu · to feel感想gǎnxiǎng · impressions

Words with 慨

慷慨kāngkǎi · generous

More words: Emotions & Attitudes

愤怒fènnù · anger服气fúqì · to be convinced尴尬gāngà · awkward干劲gànjìn · drive隔阂géhé · estrangement共鸣gòngmíng · resonance关怀guānhuái · to care for孤独gūdú · lonely

FAQs

感慨 (gǎnkǎi) means “to sigh with emotion” or “to be moved”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it gǎnkǎi: gǎn with a 3rd tone, then kǎi with a 3rd tone. In speech it sounds like gánkǎi. When two third tones meet, the first one rises into a second tone. You still write it with two third tones. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 感慨 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type gankai with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 感慨 from the suggestions. Typing gankai into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
感慨 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 written by WillyChina. Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.