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心扉 (xīn fēi) — one's heart (the seat of emotions and innermost thoughts); innermost being

Definition

Literary word for the 'door to one's heart,' almost always used with verbs like 敞开 or 叩开 meaning to open up emotionally.

noun
one's heart (the seat of emotions and innermost thoughts)innermost being

Examples

  • 心扉。
    Tā zhōng yú xiàng wǒ chǎng kāi le xīn fēi.
    She finally opened her heart to me.
  • 心扉。
    Tā bǎ zì jǐ de xīn fēi wán quán fēng bì qǐ lái le.
    He completely sealed off his heart.
  • 心扉。
    Wǒ men hěn nán zhēn zhèng liǎo jiě yí gè rén de xīn fēi.
    It's hard to truly understand a person's heart.

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.

心xīnheart
扉fēidoor

心 names the heart and 扉 names a door, together suggesting the door of inner feelings.

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.

Open 心 →

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
戶戶hù
Sound part声符shēngfú
非
非fēi扉fēi
Same sound today

扉 pairs 戶, which relates to doors, with 非, which gives the sound.

Open 扉 →
Appears in
Emotions & Feelings

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