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愁眉苦臉

简愁眉苦脸 · 繁愁眉苦臉

Mandarin · pinyin chóu méi kǔ liǎn

to look anxious (idiom)
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.

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Mandarin tones

2–2–3–3 · chou2 mei2 ku3 lian3

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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.

愁眉苦臉 · find source passages ↗ · 愁眉苦脸 · find source passages ↗

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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.

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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.

phrase

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

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

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