Chinese word dictionary

破颜

pò yán · to break into a smile; (of flowers) to open

Practice word

Word information

Simplified破颜

Traditional破顏

Pinyinpò yán

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.

破pò

to break, to rout; to ruin, to destroy

颜yán

face, facial appearance

How to learn 破颜

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.

颜色yánsè

color; countenance; appearance; facial expression; pigment; dyestuff

破pò

broken; damaged; worn out; lousy; rotten; to break, split or cleave; to get rid of; to destroy; to break with; to defeat; to capture (a city etc); to expose the truth of

打破dǎpò

to break; to smash

破坏pòhuài

destruction; damage; to wreck; to break; to destroy

五颜六色wǔyán-liùsè

multicolored; every color under the sun

破产pòchǎn

to go bankrupt; to become impoverished; bankruptcy