HSK 5 · Emotions

敏感 mǐngǎn “sensitive” in Chinese

Said as míngǎn

Same in Traditional

What 敏感 means

  1. sensitive
  2. susceptible

How to say 敏感

  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale敏mǐn3rd tone, dipping
  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale感gǎn3rd tone, dipping

Said as míngǎn. When two third tones meet, the first one rises into a second tone. You still write it with two third tones. How tone changes work

敏感 in a sentence

  1. 他很敏感。

    Tā hěn mǐngǎn.

    He is very sensitive.

    Sentence #729952 from Tatoeba

  2. 猫的眼睛对光很敏感。

    Māo de yǎnjing duì guāng hěn mǐngǎn.

    Cats’ eyes are very sensitive to light.

    Sentence #1746066 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 这颗牙对冷的食物敏感吗？

    Zhè kē yá duì lěng de shíwù mǐngǎn ma?

    Is this tooth sensitive to cold food?

    Sentence #2091843 from Tatoeba

How 敏感 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 敏 (mǐn) with each of its parts in a different colour
敏mǐnquick; nimble; agile
  • 每each · měiSound part
  • 攵tap form of 攴 · pūMeaning part

攵 hints at the meaning (tap); 每 (měi) hints at the sound. Compare it with mǐn.

The character 感 (gǎn) with each of its parts in a different colour
感gǎnto feel
  • 咸all · xián
  • 心heart · xīn

Memory aidHeart 心 with 咸 (xián) for the sound: to feel.

How to write 敏感

敏 11 strokes · 感 13 strokes

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

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

Words related to 敏感

Words with 敏

过敏guòmǐn · allergic灵敏língmǐn · sensitive敏捷mǐnjié · quick敏锐mǐnruì · sharp

Words with 感

感冒gǎnmào · catch cold感到gǎndào · to feel感兴趣gǎn xìngqù · be interested in感gǎn · (suffix) sense of …感觉gǎnjué · feeling感谢gǎnxiè · (express) thanks感动gǎndòng · to be moved感情gǎnqíng · emotion感受gǎnshòu · to feel感想gǎnxiǎng · impressions

More words: Emotions & Attitudes

怀念huáiniàn · to cherish the memory of灰心huīxīn · to lose heart寂寞jìmò · lonely冷淡lěngdàn · cold佩服pèifú · to admire期待qīdài · to look forward to气氛qìfēn · atmosphere轻视qīngshì · to look down on

FAQs

敏感 (mǐngǎn) means “sensitive” or “susceptible”. It is an HSK 5 word.
Say it mǐngǎn: mǐn with a 3rd tone, then gǎn with a 3rd tone. In speech it sounds like míngǎn. When two third tones meet, the first one rises into a second tone. You still write it with two third tones. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 敏感 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type mingan with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 敏感 from the suggestions. Typing mingan into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
敏感 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.