失眠

失眠 shīmián

Insomnia (unable to sleep)

HSK 5 shimian

What 失眠 means

  1. Insomnia (unable to sleep)

These meanings come from the same dictionary that powers the Chinese to Pinyin translator and the Chinese to English translator, so a whole sentence containing 失眠 will read it the same way this page does.

Character by character

失眠 is written with 2 characters. Chinese words are usually easier to remember once you can see what each part contributes.

shī
To lose (fail - miss - break)
mián
Sleep (dormant - hibernate)

How to write 失眠

Stroke order is not decoration — it is what makes handwriting legible and what dictionary lookup by stroke count depends on.

Practise 失眠 on printable 田字格 sheets, trace it in the writing practice tool, or watch any other character in the Stroke Order Animator.

Questions about 失眠

What does 失眠 mean in English?

失眠 is pronounced shīmián and means Insomnia (unable to sleep).

How do you pronounce 失眠?

失眠 is shīmián in pinyin — written shimian without tone marks. Press the audio button on this page to hear it spoken by a native voice.

What are the characters in 失眠?

失眠 is written with 2 characters: 失 (shī) To lose (fail - miss - break), 眠 (mián) Sleep (dormant - hibernate). Knowing the parts is usually how the whole word becomes memorable.

Is 失眠 an HSK word?

Yes — 失眠 is on the official HSK 5 vocabulary list. You can study it with the rest of that list on the HSK 5 page.

Studied around the same time

Keep going

Translate a whole sentence containing 失眠 with the Chinese to Pinyin translator, study it alongside the rest of HSK 5, drill it with HSK flashcards, or save it above and review it on your review deck.

Browse the dictionary

Every word on this site links to its entry — tap any word in a graded reader, a translation result or an HSK list to land on a page like this one.

Dictionary index