怨 (yuàn): to blame; to complain about

Meanings

1 to blame; to complain about
2 resentment; grudge

Characters

怨

yuan

to blame; to resent; resentment

Examples

你不能怨别人，要怨就怨自己。

Nǐ bùnéng yuàn biérén, yào yuàn jiù yuàn zìjǐ.

You can't blame others; if you want to blame someone, blame yourself.

她心里有很多怨气。

Tā xīnlǐ yǒu hěnduō yuànqì.

She has a lot of resentment in her heart.

别怨天怨地了。

Bié yuàn tiān yuàn dì le.

Stop blaming heaven and earth (stop complaining about everything).

Tips

usage

怨天尤人 (yuàn tiān yóu rén) is an idiom meaning 'to blame heaven and others' — to complain about everything instead of taking responsibility.

Components

radical

心 xīn

heart; mind (radical)

Bottom radical 心 — a stylised heart with chambers. Anchors 怨 in the family of feelings that come from the heart: 恨 (hate), 念 (remember), 恩 (gratitude), 怒 (anger). The full bottom-position 心 (rather than the side variant 忄) marks 怨 as a deep-seated, brooding emotion.

phonetic

夗 yuàn

twisting; reclining (phonetic)

Top 夗 — 夕 (evening) beside 㔾 (a kneeling figure), the picture of a person tossing and turning at night. Supplies the full sound yuàn with no drift, and a strong layer of meaning: the restless, sleepless turning that resentment produces. Same phonetic appears in 苑 (garden) and 鸳 (mandarin duck).