HSK 6 · Verbs

恍然大悟 huǎngrándàwù “to suddenly realise” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 恍然大悟 means

  1. to suddenly realise
  2. to see the light
  3. (idiom) to suddenly realise
  4. to suddenly see the light

How to say 恍然大悟

  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale恍huǎng3rd tone, dipping
  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale然rán2nd tone, rising
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale大dà4th tone, falling
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale悟wù4th tone, falling

恍然大悟 in a sentence

  1. 听了老师的解释，我恍然大悟。

    Tīng le lǎoshī de jiěshì, wǒ huǎngrándàwù.

    After the teacher’s explanation, it suddenly all made sense.

    Sentence by WillyChina

  2. 他看了地图，才恍然大悟，原来走错路了。

    Tā kàn le dìtú, cái huǎngrándàwù, yuánlái zǒucuò lù le.

    Looking at the map, he suddenly realised he’d taken the wrong road.

    Sentence by WillyChina

How 恍然大悟 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 恍 (huǎng) with each of its parts in a different colour
恍huǎngin a hazy state of mind
  • 忄heart form of 心 · xīnMeaning part
  • 光light · guāngSound part

忄 hints at the meaning (heart); 光 (guāng) hints at the sound. Compare it with huǎng.

The character 然 (rán) with each of its parts in a different colour
然ráncorrect
  • 肰dog meat · ránSound part
  • 灬fire form of 火 · huǒMeaning part

灬 hints at the meaning (fire); 肰 (rán) hints at the sound. Compare it with rán.

Memory aidFire 灬 under meat 肰. Its first meaning was “to burn”, now written 燃 (rán).

The character 大 (dà) with each of its parts in a different colour
大dàbig; large; great
  • 一one · yī
  • 人person · rén

Memory aidA person standing with arms stretched wide: big.

The character 悟 (wù) with each of its parts in a different colour
悟wùto comprehend
  • 忄heart form of 心 · xīnMeaning part
  • 吾I · wúSound part

忄 hints at the meaning (heart); 吾 (wú) hints at the sound. Compare it with wù.

How to write 恍然大悟

恍 9 strokes · 然 12 strokes · 大 3 strokes · 悟 10 strokes

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

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

Words related to 恍然大悟

Words with 然

虽然suīrán · although当然dāngrán · of course突然tūrán · sudden然后ránhòu · then自然zìrán · nature既然jìrán · since竟然jìngrán · unexpectedly然而rán'ér · however仍然réngrán · still必然bìrán · inevitable

Words with 大

大dà · big大学dàxué · university大学生dàxuéshēng · university student大家dàjiā · everyone大人dàren · adult大衣dàyī · overcoat大小dàxiǎo · size大熊猫dàxióngmāo · giant panda大夫dàifu · doctor大概dàgài · roughly

Words with 悟

领悟lǐngwù · to comprehend觉悟juéwù · awareness

More words: Thinking & Talking

寒暄hánxuān · to exchange pleasantries哼hēng · to hum哄hǒng · to coax吼hǒu · to roar呼唤hūhuàn · to call回顾huígù · to look back忽略hūlüè · to overlook混淆hùnxiáo · to confuse

FAQs

恍然大悟 (huǎngrándàwù) means “to suddenly realise” or “to see the light”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it huǎngrándàwù: huǎng with a 3rd tone, then rán with a 2nd tone, then dà with a 4th tone, then wù with a 4th tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 恍然大悟 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type huangrandawu with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 恍然大悟 from the suggestions. Typing huangrandawu into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
恍然大悟 is an HSK 6 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

Turn words into conversations

A dictionary gives you the words. A native teacher shows you how to use them. Start with a free 30-minute intro call.

Book a free intro call

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.