怅 (chàng): disappointed; rueful; melancholy

Meanings

他怅然离去，若有所失。

Tā chàng rán líqù, ruòyǒusuǒshī.

He left feeling crestfallen, as if he had lost something.

看着老照片，她感到一阵惆怅。

Kàn zhe lǎo zhàopiàn, tā gǎndào yízhèn chóu chàng.

Looking at the old photographs, she felt a vague melancholy.

usage

Often paired in 惆怅 (wistful sadness) and 怅然 (disappointed). It marks a soft, lingering regret rather than sharp grief.

radical

忄 xīn

heart; feeling

The upright heart radical (left-side form of 心) marks 怅 as an emotion, the inner ache of disappointment.

phonetic

长 cháng

long

Supplies the sound; its sense of length also hints at the drawn-out, lingering quality of this kind of wistful sadness.

怅 chàng