HSK 6 · Emotions

绝望 juéwàng “to despair” in Chinese

Traditional 絕望

What 绝望 means

  1. to despair
  2. hopeless
  3. to give up all hope
  4. desperate
  5. desperation

How to say 绝望

  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale绝jué2nd tone, rising
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale望wàng4th tone, falling

绝望 in a sentence

  1. 充满希望比绝望好。

    Chōngmǎn xīwàng bǐ juéwàng hǎo.

    Being hopeful is better than despairing.

    Sentence #4844660 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 这些家庭主妇过得很绝望。

    Zhèxiē jiātíngzhǔfù guò de hěn juéwàng.

    These housewives are living in despair.

    Sentence #13861342 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

  3. 汤姆绝望了。

    Tāngmǔ juéwàng le.

    Tom gave up all hope.

    Sentence #1875305 from Tatoeba

How 绝望 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 绝 (jué) with each of its parts in a different colour
绝juéto cut short
  • 纟silk form of 糸 · mìMeaning part
  • 色colour · sèSound part

纟 hints at the meaning (silk); 色 (sè) hints at the sound. Compare it with jué.

The character 望 (wàng) with each of its parts in a different colour
望wàngfull moon
  • 亡death · wáng
  • 月moon · yuè
  • 王king · wáng

Memory aidA person standing gazing at the moon 月 far away: to gaze, to hope.

How to write 绝望

绝 9 strokes · 望 11 strokes

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

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

Words related to 绝望

Words with 绝

拒绝jùjué · to refuse绝对juéduì · absolute谢绝xièjué · to politely decline断绝duànjué · to break off杜绝dùjué · to put an end to滔滔不绝tāotāobùjué · to talk non-stop空前绝后kōngqiánjuéhòu · unprecedented and unrepeatable络绎不绝luòyìbùjué · in an endless stream

Words with 望

希望xīwàng · to hope失望shīwàng · disappointed盼望pànwàng · to hope for看望kànwàng · to visit愿望yuànwàng · desire探望tànwàng · to visit (esp. someone ill or elderly)渴望kěwàng · to long for期望qīwàng · to expect欲望yùwàng · desire指望zhǐwàng · to count on

More words: Emotions & Attitudes

激情jīqíng · passion寄托jìtuō · to place (hopes) on急于求成jíyúqiúchéng · too eager for success急躁jízào · impatient沮丧jǔsàng · dejected拘束jūshù · ill at ease渴望kěwàng · to long for可恶kěwù · hateful

FAQs

绝望 (juéwàng) means “to despair” or “hopeless”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it juéwàng: jué with a 2nd tone, then wàng 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, 绝望 is written 絕望. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type juewang with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 绝望 from the suggestions. Typing juewang into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
绝望 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 from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.