悲惨
ひさん · hisan · JLPT N1 · na-adj
wretched
悲 (sorrow) + 惨 (wretched): a sorrow that turns wretched; hisan = tragedy, misery.
Both characters carry suffering: 悲 means sorrow and 惨 means cruel or wretched. Together they name a tragedy or disaster. Sounds like 'hee-sahn'.
惨 — heart radical 忄 + 参 cān (phonetic)
A semantic-phonetic compound. The heart radical 忄 signals an emotional meaning, while 参 (cān) supplies the sound. The original sense was cruel or grievous suffering, later broadening to mean miserable, tragic, or disastrous.