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心灵 (xīn líng) — (noun) cleverness, intelligence (as in 心灵手巧); (noun) heart, soul, inner being

Definition

心灵 is the inner self — mind, heart, and spirit as one. 心里 is just 'in one's heart/mind' (location of feelings); 灵魂 is the more spiritual 'soul' (core essence after death).

noun
clevernessintelligence (as in 心灵手巧)heartsoulinner being

Examples

  • ，。
    Tā xīn líng shǒu qiǎo, zuò shén me dōu hěn kuài.
    She is clever and deft; she does everything quickly.
  • 心灵。
    Zhè bù diàn yǐng shēn shēn chù dòng le wǒ de xīn líng.
    This movie deeply touched my heart.
  • 心灵。
    Yuè dú néng fēng fù rén de xīn líng.
    Reading can enrich a person's spirit.

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xīnheart
灵língclever

心 gives the heart, and 灵 gives cleverness, so the heart is quick-witted; the inner being is bright.

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.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 靈; 灵 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
玉玉yùjade
Sound part声符shēngfú
霝
霝líng靈líng
Same sound today

This note describes the traditional form 靈, not the simplified 灵: 霝 gives the sound, and 玉 (jade) is the meaning part.

Open 灵 →
Appears in
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