adjective / verb HSK 4
painful · to ache · to hurt · sorrow
Meaning
痛 describes physical pain or emotional suffering. It can function as an adjective meaning 'painful' or as a verb meaning 'to hurt' or 'to ache'. It's commonly used in medical contexts and everyday descriptions of discomfort.
Usage
Native speakers frequently use 痛 to describe specific body parts that hurt (e.g., 头痛 'headache', 肚子痛 'stomachache'). It can also express emotional pain when combined with other characters. The intensity can be modified with adverbs like 很痛 (very painful) or 有点儿痛 (a little painful).
Examples
- 01我的腿很痛，可能需要去看医生。, .My leg hurts a lot, I might need to see a doctor.
- 02他头痛得厉害，所以今天没来上班。, .He has a severe headache, so he didn't come to work today.
Common collocations
- 头痛headache
- 肚子痛stomachache
- 痛哭to cry bitterly
- 心痛heartache, distressed
Antonyms
Origin
The character 痛 consists of the illness radical 疒 (nì) on the left, indicating it relates to sickness or physical ailment, and 甬 (yǒng) on the right as the phonetic component.