HSK 6 · Emotions

嫌 xián “to dislike” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 嫌 means

  1. to dislike
  2. to mind
  3. suspicion
  4. resentment
  5. enmity

How to say 嫌

  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale嫌xián2nd tone, rising

嫌 in a sentence

  1. 不要对人家送的礼物挑三拣四,嫌东嫌西的。

    Búyào duì rénjia sòng de lǐwù tiāosānjiǎnsì, xián dōng xián xī de.

    Don’t be picky about the presents people give you.

    Sentence #806205 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

  2. 我不嫌弃他们。

    Wǒ bù xiánqì tāmen.

    I don’t look down on them.

    Sentence #7468477 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 嫌 can also mean “suspicion”, as in 嫌疑人 “suspect”

    两个侦探跟着嫌疑人。

    Liǎng ge zhēntàn gēnzhe xiányírén.

    Two detectives followed the suspect.

    Sentence #334839 from Tatoeba

How 嫌 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 嫌 (xián) with each of its parts in a different colour
嫌xiánto dislike
  • 女woman · nǚMeaning part
  • 兼both · jiānSound part

女 hints at the meaning (woman); 兼 (jiān) hints at the sound. Compare it with xián.

How to write 嫌

嫌 13 strokes

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

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

Words related to 嫌

Words with 嫌

More words: Emotions & Attitudes

FAQs

嫌 (xián) means “to dislike” or “to mind”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it xián: xián with a 2nd tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 嫌 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type xian with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 嫌 from the suggestions. Typing xian into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
嫌 is an HSK 6 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

Turn words into conversations

A dictionary gives you the words. A native teacher shows you how to use them. Start with a free 30-minute intro call.

Book a free intro call

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.