Chinese word dictionary

可歌可泣

kě gē kě qì · lit. you can sing or you can cry (idiom); fig. deeply moving; happy and sad; inspiring and tragic

Practice word

Word information

Simplified可歌可泣

Traditional可歌可泣

Pinyinkě gē kě qì

Part of speechDictionary

HSK 3.0Not listed

HSK 2.0Not listed

Character breakdown

Study each Hanzi separately, then return to the complete word so pronunciation, meaning, and movement stay connected.

可kě

may, can, -able; possibly

歌gē

song, lyrics; to sing, to chant

可kě

may, can, -able; possibly

泣qì

to cry, to sob, to weep

How to learn 可歌可泣

Listen once without reading, repeat the pinyin with its tones, then write every character in sequence. Finally, recall the complete meaning instead of memorizing each character as an isolated translation.

When the word appears in a sentence, check whether its part of speech and meaning match the definition shown here. Chinese words can change nuance with context.

Related vocabulary

Words with the same characters

Compare how a familiar Hanzi changes meaning inside another word.

歌gē

song (CL:首[shou3],支[zhi1]); (bound form) to sing; variant of 歌[ge1]

可以kěyǐ

can; may; possible; able to; not bad; pretty good

可能kěnéng

might (happen); possible; probable; possibility; probability; maybe; perhaps; CL:個|个[ge4]

可kě

(prefix) can; may; able to; -able; to approve; to permit; to suit; (particle used for emphasis) certainly; very; but; however

可爱kě’ài

adorable; cute; lovely

可是kěshì

but; however; (used for emphasis) indeed