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不憫 (ふびん) Japanese meaning | Kotomora

不ふ憫びん

ふ

び

ん

JLPTN1›Freq.FrequencyTop 50,000

Meanings

1

na-adjective, noun

pitiful; poor; pathetic

Expresses sympathy or compassion for someone in a sad or unfortunate situation. Often used in the phrase 不憫に思う (to feel sorry for).

彼

かれ

の

境きょう

遇ぐう

を

不ふ

憫びん

に

思おも

う

。

I feel sorry for his circumstances.

あの子こは親おやがいなくて不ふ憫びんだ。

That child is pitiful, having no parents.

Usage patterns

〈人ひと〉を不ふ憫びんに思おもうto feel sorry for someone
病びょう気きの子こ供どもを不ふ憫びんに思おもう。
I feel sorry for the sick child.
不ふ憫びんな〈人ひと〉a pitiful person
不ふ憫びんな子こ供どもを助たすけたいと思おもった。
I wanted to help the pitiful child.
不ふ憫びんでならないto be unable to help feeling sorry for someone
一人ひとりで泣ないている姿すがたが不ふ憫びんでならない。
I can't help feeling sorry for him crying all alone.

Kanji

不negative, non-, bad
憫anxiety, mercy
愍pity, mercy, compassion
便convenience, facility, excrement

Related words

かわいそうN3
かわいそう is the common everyday word for feeling pity, while 不憫 is a more literary, slightly formal term for the same sympathy.
気きの毒どくN3
気の毒 is used broadly for any unfortunate circumstance deserving sympathy, whereas 不憫 focuses more narrowly on pitying a person's sad situation, often a helpless one.
哀あわれN3
哀れ can describe the pitifulness of things as well as people and often carries a tone of deep sorrow or tragedy, while 不憫 is centered on feeling sorry for a person's plight.

Don't confuse with

不ふ便べんN5
不憫 (ふびん, pitiful) and 不便 (ふべん, inconvenient) sound and look similar but mean completely different things.

Written forms

不ふ憫びんUsage94%
Standard kanji spelling for this word.
不ふ愍びんUsage4%
rarely-used kanji form
Rarely used kanji form; learners will almost never encounter this.
ふびんUsage3%
Kana spelling is common in everyday writing, especially when the intended kanji is broad or not important.
不ふ便びん

Etymology

The word was formerly written 不便 and pronounced ふびん in the sense “pitiful” or “unfortunate.” The spelling 不憫 arose later through association with 憫 “pity, compassion.”

rarely-used kanji form

Rarely used kanji form; easily confused with 不便 (ふべん, 'inconvenient').