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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

隨心所欲

/su̯eɪ̯³⁵ ɕin⁵⁵ su̯ɔ²¹⁴⁻²¹ y⁵¹/
to act solely upon one's will
  • 随心所欲
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Etymology graph

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The phrase describes following one's heart's desires, reflected here in a wanderer moving freely through a vast, open landscape.
The phrase describes following one's heart's desires, reflected here in a wanderer moving freely through a vast, open landscape.

Origin

The phrase 隨心所欲 is composed of four characters: 隨, 心, 所, and 欲. The character 隨 means to follow and is formed with the phonetic component 𡐦 and the semantic component 辵, which means to walk for a while and be still for a while. The component 辵 further consists of 彳, meaning to walk slowly, and 止, meaning foot.

心 means heart. The character 所 means place or location; it uses 戶, meaning door, as a phonetic component and 斤, a traditional unit of weight, as a semantic component. The character 欲 means wish or desire, formed with the phonetic component 谷, meaning valley, gorge, or ravine, and the semantic component 欠, meaning to lack or be deficient.

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

隨心所欲由四個漢字組成。其中「隨」字含有表示「走走停停」的意符「辵」，而「辵」又由「彳」與「止」組成；在音符方面，則使用了「𡐦」。「心」字在此作為構成部分。「所」字包含表示「地方、位置」的意符「斤」，並以「戶」作為音符。

另外，「欲」字包含表示「缺乏、不足」的意符「欠」，並以「谷」作為音符。整個詞組透過這些字組合，表達出依照個人的心意與慾望來行動的含義。

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

Lineage

  • characterChinese隨 “to follow”
    • meaningChinese辵 “to walk for a while and be still for a while”
      • ideaChinese彳 “to walk slowly”
      • ideaChinese止 “foot”
    • soundChinese𡐦
  • characterChinese心 “heart (Classifier: 顆／颗 m; 個／个 c; 粒 mn)”
  • characterChinese所 “place; location”
    • soundChinese戶 “door”
    • meaningChinese斤 “catty or jin, a traditional unit of weight, equal to 0.5 kilograms”
  • characterChinese欲 “wish; desire”
    • soundChinese谷 “valley; gorge; ravine”
    • meaningChinese欠 “to lack; to be deficient”
Wiktionary etymology text

No etymology text yet. The graph shows what is known from the sources.

Meanings

phrase
  1. to act solely upon one's will

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 完全順著自己的心意去做事。 例：擁有自己的房子，就可以隨心所欲的布置一個溫暖的家。

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

Sources

  • etymagent (local gemma4:26b) — Generated
  • 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