DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

悲痛欲絕

简悲痛欲绝 · 繁悲痛欲絕

Mandarin · pinyin bēi tòng yù jué

(idiom) to be overcome with grief

Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

悲: bēi · sorrow, grief; sorry, sad
痛: tòng · pain, ache; sorry, sad; bitter
欲: yù · desire, want, long for; intend
絕: Look up this written character
绝: jué · to cut, sever, break off, terminate

Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

Explore the spelling

Mandarin tones

1–4–4–2 · bei1 tong4 yu4 jue2

Compare attested words with these syllables ↗

Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.

Connected dictionary

4character links

Explore word families ↗Compare pronunciations ↗Open character structure ↗

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.

悲痛欲絕 · find source passages ↗ · 悲痛欲绝 · find source passages ↗

Explore Classical grammar ↗

Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

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

phrase

(idiomatic) to be grief-stricken; to be extremely grieved

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

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