心想 (xīn xiǎng) — to think to oneself; to assume (in one's mind) | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

心想 is a literary/spoken verb meaning 'to think to oneself / to assume' — one thinks internally but the thought may not be correct or acted on.

verb

to think to oneselfto assume (in one's mind)

Examples

心想。
Wǒ xīn xiǎng zhè jiàn shì méi nà me jiǎn dān.
I thought to myself that this matter is not that simple.
心想。
Tā xīn xiǎng duì fāng yí dìng huì dā ying hé zuò.
He assumed the other party would agree to cooperate.
心想，。
Wǒ xīn xiǎng, yě xǔ zhè ge bàn fǎ xíng bù tōng.
I thought to myself, maybe this method won't work.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

主谓zhǔwèiSubject + predicate

A small sentence frozen into a word: something, and what it does or is.

心 is the heart or mind, and 想 is thinking, as if the heart thinks.

Characters in this word

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.

相心想

Meaning part形符xíngfú

心心xīnheart, mind

Sound part声符shēngfú

相

相xiāng想xiǎng

Same sound today

想 has 心 (heart, mind) below 相 (to look at); the shape shows the mind looking at or considering something, and 相 also gives the sound.

Appears in

Thinking & Cognition

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