HSK 6 · Emotions

欲望 yùwàng “desire” in Chinese

Traditional 慾望

What 欲望 means

  1. desire
  2. longing
  3. appetite
  4. craving

How to say 欲望

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale欲yù4th tone, falling
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale望wàng4th tone, falling

欲望 in a sentence

  1. 我没有强烈的欲望去学习。

    Wǒ méiyǒu qiángliè de yùwàng qù xuéxí.

    I don’t have a strong desire to study.

    Sentence #604910 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 不要把欲望和爱情混为一谈。

    Búyào bǎ yùwàng hé àiqíng hùnwéiyìtán.

    Don’t confuse desire with love.

    Sentence #8798303 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 人收入愈高，欲望就愈大。

    Rén shōurù yù gāo, yùwàng jiù yù dà.

    The more people earn, the greater their desires become.

    Sentence #1585879 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

How 欲望 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 欲 (yù) with each of its parts in a different colour
欲yùdesire
  • 谷valley · gǔSound part
  • 欠yawn · qiànMeaning part

欠 hints at the meaning (yawn); 谷 (gǔ) hints at the sound. Compare it with yù.

The character 望 (wàng) with each of its parts in a different colour
望wàngfull moon
  • 亡death · wáng
  • 月moon · yuè
  • 王king · wáng

Memory aidA person standing gazing at the moon 月 far away: to gaze, to hope.

How to write 欲望

欲 11 strokes · 望 11 strokes

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

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

Words related to 欲望

Words with 望

希望xīwàng · to hope失望shīwàng · disappointed盼望pànwàng · to hope for看望kànwàng · to visit愿望yuànwàng · desire探望tànwàng · to visit (esp. someone ill or elderly)绝望juéwàng · to despair渴望kěwàng · to long for期望qīwàng · to expect指望zhǐwàng · to count on

More words: Emotions & Attitudes

意志yìzhì · will诱惑yòuhuò · to tempt忧郁yōuyù · melancholy冤枉yuānwang · to wrong (someone)在意zàiyì · to care about着迷zháomí · to be fascinated振奋zhènfèn · to inspire争气zhēngqì · to try hard not to disappoint

FAQs

欲望 (yùwàng) means “desire” or “longing”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it yùwàng: yù with a 4th tone, then wàng 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, 欲望 is written 慾望. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type yuwang with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 欲望 from the suggestions. Typing yuwang into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
欲望 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 from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.