心潮 (xīn cháo) — tidal surge of emotion; emotional upsurge | tongtong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

Literary word for a surging wave of emotion, almost always paired with verbs like 澎湃, 起伏, or 难平. Stronger and more poetic than simply saying 激动.

noun

tidal surge of emotionemotional upsurge

Easily confused

新潮xīn cháosound-alike(noun) new trend, fashion

Examples

，，。
Dú dào nà fēng xìn, tā xīn cháo péng pài, lèi liú mǎn miàn.
Upon reading that letter, her heart surged with emotion and tears streamed down her face.
，心潮，。
Tīng dào gù tǔ de xiāo xi, tā xīn cháo nán píng, chè yè wèi mián.
Hearing news of his homeland, his emotions were hard to calm and he lay awake all night.
心潮，。
Zhè shǒu lǎo gē ràng wǒ xīn cháo qǐ fú, xiǎng qǐ le xǔ duō wǎng shì.
This old song stirred my emotions and brought back many memories.

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” is heart, “潮” is tide; together the tide of emotions in the heart.

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.

氵朝潮

Meaning part形符xíngfú

氵Written in full as水shuǐwater

Sound part声符shēngfú

朝

朝cháo潮cháo

Same sound today

潮 has 氵, the water form 水, on the left to show a water connection, with 朝 on the right giving the sound.

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