Chinese word dictionary

竟然

jìngrán · unexpectedly; to one's surprise; in spite of everything; in that crazy way; actually; to go as far as to

Practice word

Word information

Simplified竟然

Traditional竟然

Pinyinjìngrán

Part of speech副

HSK 3.04

HSK 2.04

Character breakdown

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

竟jìng

finally, after all, at last; indeed; unexpected

然rán

certainly; naturally; suddenly

How to learn 竟然

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.

虽然suīrán

although; even though (often used correlatively with 可是[ke3 shi4] or 但是[dan4 shi4] etc)

当然dāngrán

only natural; as it should be; certainly; of course; without doubt

然后ránhòu

then; after that; afterwards

突然tūrán

sudden; abrupt; unexpected

大自然dàzìrán

nature (the natural world)

忽然hūrán

suddenly; all of a sudden