念 is also the simplified spelling of 唸.
DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT
念
Mandarin · pinyin niàn
Meanings
Characters in this entry
- 念
- niàn · think of, recall, study
Explore the spelling
Mandarin tones
4 · nian4
Compare attested words with these syllables ↗Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.
Connected dictionary
1character link8same-tone records2source references
Counts describe dictionary records, not word frequency or semantic similarity. Source identities stay separate.Read this spelling in Classical texts
Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.
Compare dictionary sources Rime · Wiktionary
Rime Cantonese 粵拼
nim6
Cantonese word readings for 念. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.
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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section
Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.
character
- to miss; to long for; to think of; to recall
- to consider; to contemplate
- (alt-of, alternative) alternative form of 廿 (niàn, “twenty”)
- to worry; to be anxious about
- to feel compassion for; to pity
- to show tender affection for
- to commemorate; to memorialise; to pay tribute to
- idea; thought
- to nag
- (Buddhism) memory
- a surname
character
- to read aloud; to chant; to recite
- to study (at a school); to learn
- (Southern Min, Taiwanese Mandarin) to prattle; to talk on and on about something
- (Taiwanese Mandarin) to nag
Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history
Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack