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Etymology data from Wiktionary via Wiktextract (CC BY-SA 4.0). Chinese character data from the 說文解字, the Taiwan MOE 國語辭典簡編本 (CC BY-ND 3.0 TW) and HSK/TOCFL lists.

Explanations are written by a local model (gemma4) and only published after a verification pass against the cited sources. How it works.

Chinese

小心翼翼

/ɕi̯ɑʊ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹ ɕin⁵⁵ i⁵¹⁻⁵³ i⁵¹/
cautious; prudent; wary; with great care; cautiously
  • HSK 10
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Origin

The phrase 小心翼翼 appears in the Classic of Poetry, such as in poem 236 of the 《詩經·大雅·大明》. It is formed using the characters 小 (small, tiny, little), 心 (heart), and 翼 (wing).

The character 小 contains the components 八 (eight) and 丨 (to connect vertically or pass through from top to bottom). The character 翼 uses 羽 (feather; plume) as a semantic component and 異 (different; other) as a phonetic component. The character 異 is composed of 田 (farmland) and 共 (common), which itself consists of 廾 (both hands) and 口 (mouth).

Confidence: high · written by gemma4:26b, checked statement-by-statement against the sources below.

這組詞彙由「小」、「心」、「翼」三個字組成。其中「小」字包含「八」與「丨」兩個部件；「心」指心臟；「翼」字則由表示羽毛的「羽」作為意義部件，以及表示不同或其他的「異」作為聲音部件構成。而在「異」字中，包含了「田」與「共」兩個部件，其中「共」字由「廾」與「口」組成。

從字形結構來看，「小」字包含「八」與「丨」；「翼」字則結合了意義部件「羽」與聲音部件「異」。而在「異」字中，包含了「田」與「共」兩個部件，其中「共」字則是由「廾」與「口」組成。

Confidence: high · written by gemma4:26b, checked statement-by-statement against the sources below.

Lineage

  • characterChinese小 “small, tiny, little”
    • ideaChinese八 “eight”
    • ideaChinese丨 “To connect vertically; to pass through from top to bottom.”
  • characterChinese心 “heart (Classifier: 顆／颗 m; 個／个 c; 粒 mn)”
  • characterChinese翼 “wing (Classifier: 隻／只 c; 對／对 c)”
    • meaningChinese羽 “feather; plume”
    • soundChinese異 “different; other”
      • componentChinese田 “farmland (Classifier: 塊／块 m c)”
      • componentChinese共 “common”
        • ideaChinese廾 “both hands”
        • ideaChinese口 “mouth, especially the lips and internal mouth cavity (Classifier: 把 c)”
Wiktionary etymology text

Occurred a few times in the Classic of Poetry, for example, poem 236 (《詩經·大雅·大明》)

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Meanings

phrase
  1. cautious; prudent; wary; with great care; cautiously

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 形容非常小心謹慎，不敢疏忽。 例：我小心翼翼地將熱湯端上桌，深怕湯汁溢出燙傷手。

© Ministry of Education, Taiwan — CC BY-ND 3.0 TW, shown unaltered.

Sources

  • etymagent (local gemma4:26b) — Generated
  • HSK / TOCFL word lists — Facts (levels)
  • 教育部《國語辭典簡編本》 (Taiwan MOE) — CC BY-ND 3.0 TW
  • Written form — n/a
  • Wiktionary (via Wiktextract / kaikki.org) — CC BY-SA 4.0
  • Wiktionary: 小心翼翼