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孽

niè
noun #16,960

Meanings

  1. 1 sin
  2. 2 evil
  3. 3 disaster
  4. 4 son born of a concubine

Examples

HSK 5
这都是自己造的孽。
Zhè dōu shì zìjǐ zào de niè.
This is all the karma you brought upon yourself.
HSK 7-9
他们前世结下了孽缘。
Tāmen qiánshì jié xià le nièyuán.
They were bound by an ill-fated connection from a past life.

Tips

culture
Strongly tied to Buddhist concepts of karma. 造孽 means 'to commit sins' and is a common colloquial expression, especially in southern dialects.

Components

radical
子 zǐ
child; son
Bottom child radical - the indexing radical, pictograph of a swaddled infant. Anchors 孽 in the kinship family with 孩 (child), 孙 (grandson), 孤 (orphan). 孽 specifically names a wayward or illegitimate child, and by metaphysical extension the karmic 'evil deeds' that produce bad consequences - 罪孽 (sin), 作孽 (commit evil).
phonetic
薛 xuē
place name; surname (here phonetic shell)
Top sixteen strokes form the 薛-shape, here functioning as a phonetic shell: xuē drifted heavily to niè through tone and onset shift. Historically this top was a related grass+辛 cluster meaning 'offshoot of a tree stump,' which still echoes in 孽 - an illegitimate offshoot of a family line. The visual match with 薛 is coincidence at the modern stage.

Stroke Order

孽 niè