Chinese symbol for “pitiful”
可怜
kě lián
Traditional: 可憐
pitiful; pathetic; to have pity on
The closest CC-CEDICT match for pitiful is 可怜 (kě lián), defined as: pitiful; pathetic; to have pity on.
Before using these characters for a tattoo, check them with a native speaker. Dictionary words often have several meanings, and the right choice depends on context.
Characters and stroke order
Traditional forms
Other Chinese words for “pitiful”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 凄怆 (悽愴) | qī chuàng | pitiful; painful; heartrending |
| 可怜巴巴 (可憐巴巴) | kě lián bā bā | pathetic; pitiful |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 可怜.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 可以 | kě yǐ | can; may |
| 可能 | kě néng | might (happen); possible |
| 可是 | kě shì | but; however; (used for emphasis) indeed |
| 不可 | bù kě | cannot; should not; must not |
| 可怕 | kě pà | awful; dreadful |
| 可爱 (可愛) | kě ài | adorable; cute |
| 怜悯 (憐憫) | lián mǐn | to take pity on; pity |
| 可怜虫 (可憐蟲) | kě lián chóng | pitiful creature; wretch |
See also: Japanese symbol for “pitiful”.
Data: CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0); Unihan Database (Unicode License v3); Make Me a Hanzi (Arphic Public License (graphics.txt); LGPL-3.0-or-later (dictionary.txt)); wordfreq (CC BY-SA 4.0 (data)). Retrieved 2026-10-22.