HSK 4 · Emotions

羡慕 xiànmù “to envy” in Chinese

Traditional 羨慕

What 羡慕 means

  1. to envy
  2. to admire

How to say 羡慕

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale羡xiàn4th tone, falling
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale慕mù4th tone, falling

羡慕 in a sentence

  1. 我很羡慕你现在的生活。

    Wǒ hěn xiànmù nǐ xiànzài de shēnghuó.

    I really envy your life right now.

    Sentence #1298065 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 真羡慕你。

    Zhēn xiànmù nǐ.

    I really envy you.

    Sentence #14038300 from Tatoeba

  3. 她羡慕她表哥的成功。

    Tā xiànmù tā biǎogē de chénggōng.

    She envied her cousin’s success.

    Sentence #875134 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

How 羡慕 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 羡 (xiàn) with each of its parts in a different colour
羡xiànto envy
  • 羊sheep · yáng
  • 次order · cì
The character 慕 (mù) with each of its parts in a different colour
慕mùto admire
  • 莫cannot · mòSound part
  • ⺗heart form of 心 · xīnMeaning part

⺗ hints at the meaning (heart); 莫 (mò) hints at the sound. Compare it with mù.

How to write 羡慕

羡 12 strokes · 慕 14 strokes

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

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

Words related to 羡慕

More words: Emotions & Feelings

态度tàidu · attitude讨厌tǎoyàn · to dislike同情tóngqíng · to sympathise with无聊wúliáo · bored心情xīnqíng · mood辛苦xīnkǔ · exhausting幸福xìngfú · happiness愉快yúkuài · cheerful

FAQs

羡慕 (xiànmù) means “to envy” or “to admire”. It is an HSK 4 word.
Say it xiànmù: xiàn with a 4th tone, then mù with a 4th 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, 羡慕 is written 羨慕. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type xianmu with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 羡慕 from the suggestions. Typing xianmu into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
羡慕 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.