好心肠 (hǎo xīn cháng) — good-hearted, kind-hearted

Definition

adjective

good-heartedkind-hearted

好心肠。
Tā zhēn shì gè hǎo xīn cháng de rén.
She is really a kind-hearted person.
好心肠，。
Tā hǎo xīn cháng, suǒ yǐ dà jiā dōu xǐ huan tā.
He has a good heart, so everyone likes him.
好心肠，。
Nǐ zhēn shì hǎo xīn cháng, xiè xie nǐ de bāng zhù.
You are so kind-hearted, thank you for your help.

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.

心肠disposition

联合Coordinate

The part meaning good describes 心肠, where heart and intestines together stand for disposition, so the word means good-hearted.

Characters in this word

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

女子好

好 joins 女 (woman) and 子 (child), understood as a woman with a child, linked to goodness or affection.

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

The shape of 心 comes from a drawing of a heart, now highly stylized.

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 腸; 肠 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

Sound part声符shēngfú

昜

昜yáng腸cháng

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 腸 pairs 肉, the body, with 昜, which gives the sound; the simplified 肠 is a later shorthand.

Appears in