恼 (nǎo): to be annoyed

Meanings

1 to be annoyed
2 to get angry
3 to irritate

Characters

恼

nǎo

annoy / anger

Examples

HSK 2

他的话让我很恼。

Tā de huà ràng wǒ hěn nǎo.

His words really annoyed me.

HSK 2

她恼得说不出话来。

Tā nǎo de shuō bu chū huà lái.

She was so annoyed she couldn't speak.

HSK 2

别为这点小事恼了。

Bié wèi zhè diǎn xiǎoshì nǎo le.

Don't get annoyed over such a small thing.

Tips

usage

恼 is usually seen in compound forms: 恼火 (vexed), 恼怒 (angry), 恼人 (annoying). Alone it is relatively literary.

Components

radical

忄 xīn

heart; mind

忄 is the left-side compressed heart radical. It marks 恼 as an emotion verb: annoyance, irritation, the prickly heat of being vexed. Family includes 怕 (fear), 怒 (anger), 悔 (regret), 烦 (bothered), all sharing the sensation of mental disturbance flowing through the vertical heart on the left.

phonetic

凶 xiōng

fierce; ominous

The right side carries a small lid stroke above 凶, a simplified replacement for an old brain-graph. Take it as 凶 with a covering mark, supplying sound (xiōng to nǎo via dialect routes) and a flavour of ominous violence fitting the bristling annoyance of 恼火, 烦恼.