不ふ憫びん

ふ

び

ん

JLPTN1Freq.FrequencyTop 50,000

Meanings

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.

See all 11 example sentences ›

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

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.”