阴森森

陰森森

yīnsēnsēn

adjective #37,435

Meanings

1 gloomy and eerie
2 dark and forbidding
3 spooky

Characters

(reduplicated for intensity)

Examples

古堡里阴森森的，让人发抖。

Gǔbǎo lǐ yīnsēnsēn de, ràng rén fādǒu.

Inside the old castle it was dark and eerie, making people shiver.

这条小巷晚上阴森森的。

Zhè tiáo xiǎo xiàng wǎnshang yīnsēnsēn de.

This alley feels spooky at night.

他用阴森森的目光看着我。

Tā yòng yīnsēnsēn de mùguāng kànzhe wǒ.

He stared at me with a sinister look.

Tips

grammar

ABB-pattern adjective: base 阴森 (yīnsēn, 'gloomy') intensified by reduplicating 森. The reduplicated syllable shifts to a softer reading in speech (often heard as yīnsēnsēn with second syllable lighter). ABB adjectives almost always need 的 before a noun: 阴森森的房子 ('a gloomy house').

memory

森 (sēn) is three 木 trees stacked = a dense forest. Triple it in this word and you get the feeling of a sunless, tree-shrouded place — exactly the mood 阴森森 conveys.

Stroke Order

阴 yīn

森 sēn