HSK 6 · Emotions

凄凉 qīliáng “desolate” in Chinese

Traditional 悽涼

What 凄凉 means

  1. desolate
  2. dreary
  3. miserable
  4. mournful

How to say 凄凉

  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale凄qī1st tone, high and level
  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale凉liáng2nd tone, rising

凄凉 in a sentence

  1. 冬天的公园显得有些凄凉。

    Dōngtiān de gōngyuán xiǎnde yǒuxiē qīliáng.

    The park looks rather desolate in winter.

    Sentence by WillyChina

  2. 他一个人住在山里，晚年过得很凄凉。

    Tā yí ge rén zhù zài shān lǐ, wǎnnián guò de hěn qīliáng.

    He lived alone in the mountains and had a lonely old age.

    Sentence by WillyChina

How 凄凉 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 凄 (qī) with each of its parts in a different colour
凄qīintense cold
  • 冫ice · bīngMeaning part
  • 妻wife · qīSound part

冫 hints at the meaning (ice); 妻 (qī) hints at the sound. Compare it with qī.

The character 凉 (liáng) with each of its parts in a different colour
凉liángcool
  • 冫ice · bīngMeaning part
  • 京capital city · jīngSound part

冫 hints at the meaning (ice); 京 (jīng) hints at the sound. Compare it with liáng.

How to write 凄凉

凄 10 strokes · 凉 10 strokes

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

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

Words related to 凄凉

Words with 凉

凉快liángkuai · nice and cold着凉zháoliáng · to catch a cold荒凉huāngliáng · desolate

More words: Emotions & Attitudes

恼火nǎohuǒ · annoyed迫不及待pòbùjídài · too impatient to wait魄力pòlì · boldness气概qìgài · spirit钦佩qīnpèi · to admire气魄qìpò · boldness期望qīwàng · to expect岂有此理qǐyǒucǐlǐ · outrageous

FAQs

凄凉 (qīliáng) means “desolate” or “dreary”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it qīliáng: qī with a 1st tone, then liáng with a 2nd 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, 凄凉 is written 悽涼. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type qiliang with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 凄凉 from the suggestions. Typing qiliang into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
凄凉 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 written by WillyChina. Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.