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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

心

xīn
heart (Classifier: 顆／颗 m; 個／个 c; 粒 mn)
  • Pictogram
  • HSK 3
  • TOCFL 3
  • radical 心
  • 4 strokes

Etymology graph

  • inherited
  • borrowed
  • derived
  • parts
  • meaning component
  • sound component
  • related
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Origin

Pictogram (象形) – a heart, now highly stylized.

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *səm.

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Lineage

  • partChinese丿 “left-falling stroke, usually read as 撇”
  • inheritedProto-Sino-Tibetan*səm
  • partChinese乚
  • partChinese丶 “An ancient punctuation mark.”

Words built on it: 想, 愛, 快, 您, 應, 忙, 中心, 懂, 忘, 慢, 怕, 小心

Meanings

character
  1. heart (Classifier: 顆／颗 m; 個／个 c; 粒 mn)
  2. chest; breast; epigastrium; stomach
  3. mind; intellect; the seat of thought
  4. thought; idea; feeling; emotion
  5. intention; will; purpose; aspiration
  6. disposition; nature; temperament; character

Shuowen Jiezi 說文解字

心：人心，土藏，在身之中。象形。博士說以爲火藏。凡心之屬皆从心。

Xu Shen, c. 100 CE — the first analytical dictionary of Chinese characters.

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 五臟之一。為中空、紅色的肌肉質器官，在胸腔中間稍偏左的地方。以規則性的張縮促成血液的循環作用。　◎
  2. 我國古代認為心主管思維，故相沿以為腦的代稱。 例：心智、用心、勞心勞力
  3. 思想、意念、感情。 例：仁心、談心、壞心
  4. 平面或物體的中央或內部。 例：湖心、掌心、圓心
  5. 植物的花蕊或苗尖。 例：花心

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

How 心 was written 字形演變

  1. 心 in Oracle bone script
    Oracle bone
    甲骨文
    Shang, c. 1250–1050 BCE
  2. 心 in Bronze script
    Bronze
    金文
    Shang–Zhou
  3. 心 in Chu slips & silk script
    Chu slips & silk
    楚系簡帛
    Warring States
  4. 心 in Qin slips script
    Qin slips
    秦系簡牘
    Qin
  5. 心 in Small seal script
    Small seal
    說文小篆
    Shuowen, c. 100 CE
  6. 心 in Regular script
    Regular
    楷書
    since c. 200 CE

Historical forms collected by the legacy etymfun dataset; most characters have several attested variants.

Sources

  • Structural decomposition (chaizi) — See upstream
  • Historical glyph forms (zdic.net 字形演变) — Rights unverified
  • HSK / TOCFL word lists — Facts (levels)
  • 教育部《國語辭典簡編本》 (Taiwan MOE) — CC BY-ND 3.0 TW
  • 說文解字 Shuowen Jiezi (Xu Shen, c. 100 CE) — Public domain
  • Written form — n/a
  • Wiktionary (via Wiktextract / kaikki.org) — CC BY-SA 4.0
  • Wiktionary: 心