人情债 (rén qíng zhài) — a social or moral debt of gratitude; a favor that must be reciprocated

Definition

人情债 refers to an unspoken social debt of gratitude for a favor received — culturally loaded, harder to 'settle' than cash. Unlike ordinary 债 (financial debt), this is repaid through ongoing reciprocity, not a fixed sum.

noun
a social or moral debt of gratitudea favor that must be reciprocated

Examples

  • ，。
    Shàng cì tā bāng le wǒ yí gè dà máng, wǒ xiàn zài hái qiàn zhe tā rén qíng zhài ne.
    Last time he helped me out a lot, and I still owe him a favor debt.
  • 人情债，。
    Wèi le huán qīng rén qíng zhài, wǒ tè yì huā shí jiān bāng tā de hái zi bǔ xí gōng kè.
    To repay that favor debt, I specially took time to tutor his child.
  • ，人情债。
    Zài zhōng guó shè huì, rén qíng zhài shì zuì nán suàn qīng de zhàng.
    In Chinese society, favor debts are the hardest accounts to settle.

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.

人情social feeling
人rénpeople情qíngfeeling
偏正Modifier + head
债zhàidebt

人情 (social feeling) specifies the kind of 债 (debt), a moral debt from favors.

Characters in this word

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

The shape of 人 shows a side view of a standing person, with an arm and a leg.

Open 人 →

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
心心xīnheart
Sound part声符shēngfú
青
青qīng情qíng
Same sound today

情 shows 心 (heart) beside 青, which gives the sound. The heart part points to feelings and inner states.

Open 情 →

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 債; 债 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
亻Written in full as人rén
Sound part声符shēngfú
責
責zé債zhài
Same sound today

The traditional form 債 combines 亻 (person) with 責 as a sound part; the simplified 债 is a later shorthand, and its right side is not the historical sound part.

Open 债 →

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