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愁眉苦臉

简 愁眉苦脸 · 繁 愁眉苦臉
Mandarin · pinyin chóu méi kǔ liǎn

Meanings

  1. to look anxious (idiom)
  2. to look miserable
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Characters in this entry

愁
chóu · anxiety; to worry about, be anxious
眉
méi · eyebrows; upper margin of book
苦
kǔ · bitter; hardship, suffering
臉
liǎn · face; cheek; reputation
脸
liǎn · face; cheek; reputation
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

Explore the spelling

Entries containing 愁眉苦臉 ↗Words written with 愁 ↗Words written with 眉 ↗Words written with 苦 ↗Words written with 臉 ↗Words written with 脸 ↗

Mandarin tones

2–2–3–3 · chou2 mei2 ku3 lian3

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Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

sau4 mei4 fu2 lim5

Cantonese word readings for 愁眉苦臉. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

CanCLID contributors · CC BY 4.0 · source & license · Data pack

sau4 mei4 fu2 lim5

Pleco · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Word reading; meanings not aligned.

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

phrase

  1. (idiomatic) with knitted brows and a doleful look; looking distressed

Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack