烦恼

• Pinyin: fán nǎo
• Hanzi breakdown: 烦 = 火 (fire) + 页 (head) — heated irritation in the mind; 恼 = 忄(heart) + 𡿺 — resentment and agitation of the heart

Meaning

Worry; vexation; trouble; a source of distress or annoyance. Can be used as both an adjective (troubled) and a noun (worries, troubles).

A versatile term covering everyday annoyances to deeper existential anxieties. In Buddhist thought, 烦恼 (Sanskrit: klesha) refers to the mental afflictions that bind sentient beings to suffering — a connotation that enriches its use in philosophical and literary contexts.

Examples

1. 升入高中后，她发现学业压力与人际关系带来的烦恼几乎占据了她全部的课余时间，令她感到喘不过气。 After starting high school, she found that academic pressure and social troubles took up almost all her free time, leaving her feeling like she could barely breathe.
2. 这位退休老教授说，年轻时为之烦恼不已的许多事情，如今回头来看都不过是些微不足道的小事而已。 The retired professor said that many things he once worried about endlessly now seem, in hindsight, like trivial matters.
3. 心理学研究表明，适当地将内心的烦恼写下来并进行分析，有助于减轻焦虑感，帮助人们找到更清晰的解决路径。 Psychology research shows that writing down your worries and analyzing them appropriately can help reduce anxiety and point people toward a clearer path to solving the problem.

Usage Guide

Context: emotions, everyday, psychology, Buddhism

Tone: neutral

Do Say

• 主人公的烦恼并非物质匮乏，而是对人生意义的持续追问。(The protagonist's worries come not from material scarcity but from a persistent search for life's meaning.)
• 佛教认为，人类所有的苦难都源于贪、嗔、痴三种根本烦恼，修行的根本目的正是通过戒定慧三学逐渐净化这些烦恼，最终达到彻底解脱的境界。(Buddhism holds that all human suffering originates from the three fundamental afflictions of greed, aversion, and delusion; the fundamental goal of practice is to progressively purify these afflictions through the three trainings of morality, meditation, and wisdom, ultimately attaining complete liberation.)

Don't Say

• 烦恼的快乐 — 烦恼 and 快乐 are mutually exclusive; if meaning bittersweet, use 苦乐交织 or 百感交集 for more accurate and nuanced expression

Origin & History

烦 (vexed/irritated) + 恼 (resentful/troubled) — two characters both indicating mental disturbance, combined to mean worry and distress

Cultural Context

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal