HSK 5 · Body

失眠 shīmián “to suffer from insomnia” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 失眠 means

  1. to suffer from insomnia

How to say 失眠

  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale失shī1st tone, high and level
  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale眠mián2nd tone, rising

失眠 in a sentence

  1. 我有失眠症。

    Wǒ yǒu shīmiánzhèng.

    I have insomnia.

    Sentence #8800719 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 小李经常失眠，因为他的邻居老是大声地吵架。

    Xiǎo Lǐ jīngcháng shīmián, yīnwèi tā de línjū lǎoshi dàshēng de chǎojià.

    Xiao Li often can’t sleep because his neighbours are always arguing loudly.

    Sentence #789133 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

How 失眠 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 失 (shī) with each of its parts in a different colour
失shīto lose
  • 丿slash · piě
  • 夫man · fū
The character 眠 (mián) with each of its parts in a different colour
眠miánto sleep
  • 目eye · mùMeaning part
  • 民citizens · mínSound part

目 hints at the meaning (eye); 民 (mín) hints at the sound. Compare it with mián.

How to write 失眠

失 5 strokes · 眠 10 strokes

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

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

Words related to 失眠

Words with 失

失败shībài · to fail失望shīwàng · disappointed失去shīqù · to lose消失xiāoshī · to disappear失业shīyè · unemployment损失sǔnshī · loss丧失sàngshī · to lose遗失yíshī · to lose (something)失踪shīzōng · to go missing失事shīshì · (of a plane or ship) to crash

More words: People, Body & Health

内科nèikē · internal medicine疲劳píláo · tired嗓子sǎngzi · throat身材shēncái · stature手术shǒushù · (surgical) operation手指shǒuzhǐ · finger寿命shòumìng · life span受伤shòushāng · to be injured

FAQs

失眠 (shīmián) means “to suffer from insomnia”. It is an HSK 5 word.
Say it shīmián: shī with a 1st tone, then mián with a 2nd tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 失眠 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type shimian with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 失眠 from the suggestions. Typing shimian into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
失眠 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.