na-adjective, taru-adjective, adverb taking the 'to' particle
Literary word describing a state that evokes pity or sadness. Often used in the adverbial form びんぜんとして or as a たる adjective in written Japanese.
His circumstances were truly pitiable.
It's a story that moves one to tears with its pitifulness.
Literary kanji form; 憫 is not a jōyō kanji, so this spelling is uncommon in modern writing.
Variant kanji form using 愍; even rarer than 憫然.
From Chinese 憫然 (mǐnrán). The exact historical derivation in Japanese is uncertain; it entered as a literary Sinitic compound.