HSK 4 · Function Words

竟然 jìngrán “unexpectedly” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 竟然 means

  1. unexpectedly
  2. to one’s surprise
  3. in spite of everything
  4. in that crazy way
  5. actually
More meanings from CC-CEDICT
  • to go as far as to

How to say 竟然

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale竟jìng4th tone, falling
  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale然rán2nd tone, rising

竟然 in a sentence

  1. 我很惊讶，你竟然不知道他们结婚了。

    Wǒ hěn jīngyà, nǐ jìngrán bù zhīdao tāmen jiéhūn le.

    I’m surprised you didn’t know they’d got married.

    Sentence #2045902 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 奇怪的是，村子里竟然一个人也没有。

    Qíguài de shì, cūnzi lǐ jìngrán yí ge rén yě méiyǒu.

    Strangely enough, there wasn’t a single person in the village.

    Sentence #523643 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

  3. 这个男子竟然是一个私家侦探。

    Zhè ge nánzǐ jìngrán shì yí ge sījiā zhēntàn.

    The man turned out to be a private detective.

    Sentence #1704327 from Tatoeba

How 竟然 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 竟 (jìng) with each of its parts in a different colour
竟jìngunexpectedly
  • 音sound · yīn
  • 儿legs · ér
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).

How to write 竟然

竟 11 strokes · 然 12 strokes

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

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

Words related to 竟然

Words with 竟

究竟jiūjìng · to go to the bottom of a matter毕竟bìjìng · after all

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然而rán'ér · however仍然réngrán · still必然bìrán · inevitable不然bùrán · otherwise

More words: Particles & Connectors

及时jíshí · timely即使jíshǐ · even if既然jìrán · since尽管jǐnguǎn · despite棵kē · measure word for trees and plants可是kěshì · but恐怕kǒngpà · I’m afraid (that)例如lìrú · for example

FAQs

竟然 (jìngrán) means “unexpectedly” or “to one’s surprise”. It is an HSK 4 word.
Say it jìngrán: jìng with a 4th tone, then rán with a 2nd tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 竟然 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type jingran with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 竟然 from the suggestions. Typing jingran into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
竟然 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.