TongTong
Sign in

心爱 (xīn ài) — beloved, cherished, darling

Definition

心爱 means 'dearly loved, cherished' and is used as an attributive before things or people you value deeply. Stronger than 可爱 ('cute'); more personal and emotional than 亲爱, which is mostly a polite form of address.

adjective
belovedcherisheddarling

Examples

  • 心爱。
    Tā shì wǒ xīn ài de qī zi.
    She is my beloved wife.
  • 心爱。
    Zhè shì tā xīn ài de xiàng jī.
    This is his beloved camera.
  • 心爱。
    Tā sòng gěi mǔ qīn yí jiàn xīn ài de lǐ wù.
    He gave his mother a cherished gift.

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
爱àilove

心 (heart) and 爱 (love) together mean loved 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.

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 愛; 爱 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
心心xīnheart
Sound part声符shēngfú
旡
旡jì愛ài
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

For the traditional form 愛, an older shape paired 心 (heart) with 旡 as its sound part; later a foot-like 夊 was added below. The simplified 爱 is a later variant that replaces the lower part with 友.

Open 爱 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 6Emotions & Feelings

Browse more HSK 6 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.