HSK 5 · Emotions

遗憾 yíhàn “regret” in Chinese

Traditional 遺憾

What 遗憾 means

  1. regret
  2. to be sorry that

How to say 遗憾

  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale遗yí2nd tone, rising
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale憾hàn4th tone, falling

遗憾 in a sentence

  1. 很遗憾我无法接受您的邀请。

    Hěn yíhàn wǒ wúfǎ jiēshòu nín de yāoqǐng.

    Unfortunately, I can’t accept your invitation.

    Sentence #2051380 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 很遗憾，下雨了。

    Hěn yíhàn, xiàyǔ le.

    Unfortunately, it rained.

    Sentence #7768284 from Tatoeba

  3. 人生总有太多遗憾，不可能做到事事完美。

    Rénshēng zǒng yǒu tài duō yíhàn, bù kěnéng zuòdào shìshì wánměi.

    Life is always full of regrets; you can’t do everything perfectly.

    Sentence #3537579 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 遗憾 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 遗 (yí) with each of its parts in a different colour
遗yíto leave behind
  • 贵expensive · guì
  • 辶walking form of 辵 · chuò
The character 憾 (hàn) with each of its parts in a different colour
憾hànregret
  • 忄heart form of 心 · xīnMeaning part
  • 感to affect · gǎnSound part

忄 hints at the meaning (heart); 感 (gǎn) hints at the sound. Compare it with hàn.

How to write 遗憾

遗 12 strokes · 憾 16 strokes

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

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

Words related to 遗憾

Words with 遗

遗传yíchuán · genetic遗留yíliú · to be left over遗失yíshī · to lose (something)遗产yíchǎn · heritage

More words: Emotions & Attitudes

无所谓wúsuǒwèi · to not matter消极xiāojí · negative心理xīnlǐ · psychology幸运xìngyùn · fortunate勇气yǒngqì · courage愿望yuànwàng · desire运气yùnqi · luck (good or bad)在乎zàihu · to care about

FAQs

遗憾 (yíhàn) means “regret” or “to be sorry that”. It is an HSK 5 word.
Say it yíhàn: yí with a 2nd tone, then hàn 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, 遗憾 is written 遺憾. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type yihan with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 遗憾 from the suggestions. Typing yihan into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
遗憾 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.