可惜

kě xī

HSK 2.0 Level 4 HSK 3.0 Level 4 Adjective Common

Definitions

1. it is a pity
2. what a pity
3. unfortunately

Word relationships

Antonyms

1 item

幸好

xìng hǎo

fortunately

as an opposite expressing relief that something bad didn't happen

Register variants

1 item

惋惜

wǎn xī

to regret

more formal and literary synonym for 'it's a pity'

Related words

1 item

倒霉

dǎo méi

to have bad luck

related adjective for unlucky or unfortunate situations

Usage notes

Collocations

Common pattern: 可惜 + 的是 to mean 'what is regrettable is that...', e.g., 可惜的是他没来 (Unfortunately, he didn't come).

Common mistakes

可惜 is an adjective, not a verb. Avoid saying *我可惜 (I pity). Use 我觉得可惜 or 为...感到可惜 instead.

Example Sentences

4 shown

真可惜，今天下雨了。

What a pity, it's raining today.

可惜！

Source: Tatoeba.org (ID 13275104)

可惜。

Source: Tatoeba.org (ID 13275107)

好可惜。

Source: Tatoeba.org (ID 2303090)

Sentence data courtesy of Tatoeba.org. AI-generated examples are marked with this icon.

Words Containing 可惜

食之无味，弃之可惜

shí zhī wú wèi , qì zhī kě xī

lit. to be hardly worth eating, but it would still be a pity to discard it (idiom)

Child Words of 可惜

can

to cherish