How to say “insomnia” in Chinese
insomnia
“Insomnia” in Chinese is 失眠, shī mián: the meaning, a recording of how it sounds, the characters stroke by stroke and examples.
How to pronounce it
失眠 is read shī mián: 2 syllables. The tone is part of the word: with another melody you get another word, or just a jumble of sounds.
How to write it
Don't confuse it with 夫: 失 has an extra stroke at the top left.
On the left, 目 “eye”: eyes closed. On the right, 民 mín hints at the reading.
Strokes go in order: top to bottom and left to right, horizontal before vertical. Tap a character to open its page, with the strokes shown large and the words it appears in. To train your hand, print a handwriting sheet for “失眠”.
Examples
Sentences from the course lessons with 失眠. Tap the sound icon to listen.
- 我最近老是失眠，怎么办？wǒzuìjìnlǎoshìshīmián,zěnmebànLately I keep having trouble sleeping — what should I do?
More words from the lesson “Sleep and energy”
Look up another word in the Chinese–English dictionary: in English, in pinyin or in characters.
Frequently asked questions
How do you say “insomnia” in Chinese?
“Insomnia” in Chinese is 失眠, pinyin shīmián.
What does 失眠 mean?
失眠 (shīmián) means “insomnia”.
How do you write 失眠?
失眠 is 2 characters: 失 (shī) — lose; 眠 (mián) — sleep. The stroke order of each one is shown step by step on this page.
How do you pronounce 失眠?
失眠 is read shīmián. Tones: shī — first tone, mián — second tone. The page has a native speaker recording.
“insomnia” in the lesson “Sleep and energy”
This word is from the topic “Health” of HSK 5. In the lesson you hear it in a dialogue, build a sentence with it and say it out loud. Start for free, no sign-up needed.
Start for free