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中性 (zhōng xìng) — (adjective) neutral (in color, tone, or style — not strong or bright); (adjective) neutral (in stance, attitude, or gender — not taking a side); (noun) neutral (in chemistry, pH 7; also electrical neutrality)

Definition

中性 is mainly an adjective meaning 'neutral' — not taking a side in stance, or not strong/bright in color, tone, or style. As a verb-phrase stand-in, 中立 explicitly marks taking a neutral position; 平和 describes a mild temperament, not neutrality.

adjective
neutral (in color, tone, or style — not strong or bright)neutral (in stance, attitude, or gender — not taking a side)
noun
neutral (in chemistry, pH 7; also electrical neutrality)

Examples

  • pH中性。
    Zhè zhǒng róng yè de pH zhí shì zhōng xìng de.
    The pH of this solution is neutral.
  • 中性，。
    Fáng jiān de zhuāng shì yòng le zhōng xìng yán sè, xiǎn de hěn yōu yǎ.
    The room's decoration uses neutral colors, looking very elegant.
  • ，中性。
    Zài dé yǔ zhōng, zhè ge míng cí shì zhōng xìng míng cí.
    In German, this noun is a neuter noun.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

中zhōngmiddle
性xìngnature

“中” is the middle and “性” is nature or property, so the sense is neutral.

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The original picture showed a flagpole with a drum in the middle, set up in the center of a field.

Open 中 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
忄Written in full as心xīnheart
Sound part声符shēngfú
生
生shēng性xìng
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

性 is built from 忄 (the heart) and 生 (a sound clue). The heart part connects the word to a person's inner nature or quality.

Open 性 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9Abstract Concepts

Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.