HSK 5 · Emotions

怀念 huáiniàn “to cherish the memory of” in Chinese

Traditional 懷念

What 怀念 means

  1. to cherish the memory of
  2. to think of
  3. to reminisce

How to say 怀念

  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale怀huái2nd tone, rising
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale念niàn4th tone, falling

怀念 in a sentence

  1. 我很怀念我的童年。

    Wǒ hěn huáiniàn wǒ de tóngnián.

    I miss my childhood.

    Sentence #633985 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 她怀念自己的青春岁月。

    Tā huáiniàn zìjǐ de qīngchūn suìyuè.

    She misses the days of her youth.

    Sentence #13573774 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

  3. 住在城市里最让我怀念的，是夜晚的星空。

    Zhù zài chéngshì lǐ zuì ràng wǒ huáiniàn de, shì yèwǎn de xīngkōng.

    Living in the city, what I miss most is the starry night sky.

    Sentence #9140821 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 怀念 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 怀 (huái) with each of its parts in a different colour
怀huáibosom
  • 忄heart form of 心 · xīnMeaning part
  • 不no · bùSound part

忄 hints at the meaning (heart); 不 (bù) hints at the sound. Compare it with huái.

The character 念 (niàn) with each of its parts in a different colour
念niànto read
  • 今modern · jīn
  • 心heart · xīn

How to write 怀念

怀 7 strokes · 念 8 strokes

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

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

Words related to 怀念

Words with 怀

怀疑huáiyí · to doubt怀孕huáiyùn · to be pregnant关怀guānhuái · to care for胸怀xiōnghuái · breadth of mind

Words with 念

念niàn · to read aloud观念guānniàn · notion纪念jìniàn · to commemorate想念xiǎngniàn · to miss概念gàiniàn · concept留念liúniàn · to keep as a memento思念sīniàn · to miss悬念xuánniàn · suspense信念xìnniàn · belief

More words: Emotions & Attitudes

发愁fāchóu · to worry感激gǎnjī · to be grateful好奇hàoqí · inquisitive恨hèn · to hate灰心huīxīn · to lose heart寂寞jìmò · lonely冷淡lěngdàn · cold敏感mǐngǎn · sensitive

FAQs

怀念 (huáiniàn) means “to cherish the memory of” or “to think of”. It is an HSK 5 word.
Say it huáiniàn: huái with a 2nd tone, then niàn 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, 怀念 is written 懷念. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type huainian with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 怀念 from the suggestions. Typing huainian into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
怀念 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.