嫌 (xián) · to dislike; to mind; to complain about

Meanings

1 to dislike; to mind; to complain about
2 to suspect; suspicion

Characters

嫌

xián

to dislike; to suspect

Examples

HSK 1

她嫌这件衣服太贵了。

Tā xián zhè jiàn yīfu tài guì le.

She thinks this piece of clothing is too expensive.

HSK 4

别嫌麻烦。

Bié xián máfan.

Don't mind the trouble.

HSK 7-9

他被列为嫌疑人。

Tā bèi lièwéi xiányírén.

He was listed as a suspect.

Tips

usage

嫌 as 'to dislike' takes a complement: 嫌贵 (think it's too expensive), 嫌远 (mind the distance), 嫌麻烦 (find it troublesome). As 'suspicion': 嫌疑 (suspicion), 嫌疑人 (suspect).

Components

radical

女 nǚ

woman

Woman radical on the left - historically the indexing radical for many emotion and relationship verbs (妒 jealous, 嫉 envy, 妨 hinder, 嫌 dislike). Whether this reflects ancient bias or simply graphic convention, 女 here functions as a radical with weak semantic load; the resentment lives in the right side.

phonetic

兼 jiān

combine; double

Right side 兼 supplies the sound (jiān → xián with palatal drift) and a faint nuance of holding two things at once - fitting suspicion, which weighs guilt against innocence. 兼 itself depicts a hand grasping two stalks of grain. Same phonetic family: 谦 modest, 廉 honest, 镰 sickle, 歉 apology.