HSK 4 · Emotions

可惜 kěxī “it is a pity” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 可惜 means

  1. it is a pity
  2. what a pity
  3. unfortunately

How to say 可惜

  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale可kě3rd tone, dipping
  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale惜xī1st tone, high and level

可惜 in a sentence

  1. 太可惜了！

    Tài kěxī le!

    What a pity!

    Sentence #332578 from Tatoeba

  2. 你不能来参加派对，真是可惜。

    Nǐ bùnéng lái cānjiā pàiduì, zhēn shì kěxī.

    It’s a pity you can’t come to the party.

    Sentence #358967 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

  3. 可惜电话占线。

    Kěxī diànhuà zhànxiàn.

    Unfortunately, the line is busy.

    Sentence #2279122 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 可惜 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 可 (kě) with each of its parts in a different colour
可kěcan; may; able to; -able
  • 丁part of the characterMeaning part
  • 口mouth · kǒuSound part

Memory aidPicture a mouth 口 saying yes: can, may.

The character 惜 (xī) with each of its parts in a different colour
惜xīto cherish
  • 忄heart form of 心 · xīn
  • 昔past · xī

How to write 可惜

可 5 strokes · 惜 11 strokes

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

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

Words related to 可惜

Words with 可

可以kěyǐ · can可能kěnéng · maybe可kě · but可爱kě'ài · cute可怜kělián · pitiful可是kěshì · but可靠kěkào · reliable可怕kěpà · awful可见kějiàn · it can clearly be seen (that this is the case)宁可nìngkě · preferably

Words with 惜

爱惜àixī · to cherish珍惜zhēnxī · to treasure惋惜wǎnxī · to regret不惜bùxī · not to hesitate (to)

More words: Emotions & Feelings

骄傲jiāo'ào · proud紧张jǐnzhāng · nervous开心kāixīn · to feel happy可怜kělián · pitiful浪漫làngmàn · romantic麻烦máfan · trouble难受nánshòu · to feel unwell失败shībài · to fail

FAQs

可惜 (kěxī) means “it is a pity” or “what a pity”. It is an HSK 4 word.
Say it kěxī: kě with a 3rd tone, then xī with a 1st tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 可惜 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type kexi with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 可惜 from the suggestions. Typing kexi into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
可惜 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.