心酸 (xīn suān) — sorrowful; heartache; poignant sadness (often f… | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

心酸 is sadness mixed with empathy or pity — feeling heartache for someone else's suffering, lighter than the deep grief of 悲痛 or 悲伤.

adjective

sorrowfulheartachepoignant sadness (often from empathy or pity)

Easily confused

辛酸xīn suānsound-alikebitter, heartbreaking, sad and miserable (of life, memories, emotions)

Examples

，心酸。
Tīng dào tā xiǎo shí hou de zāo yù, tā fēi cháng xīn suān.
Hearing about his childhood experiences, she felt very saddened.
，心酸。
Měi dāng xiǎng qǐ nà duàn jiān kǔ de rì zi, tā dōu huì gǎn dào xīn suān.
Whenever he remembers that period of hardship, he feels heartache.
，心酸。
Kàn dào nà wèi lǎo rén de bèi yǐng, wǒ bù jīn gǎn dào yí zhèn xīn suān.
Seeing the old man's back figure, I couldn't help feeling a pang of sorrow.

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.

The “心” feels “酸”, giving a sour sadness.

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.

酉夋酸

Meaning part形符xíngfú

酉酉yǒu

Sound part声符shēngfú

夋

夋qūn酸suān

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

酸 is built from 酉 and 夋, and 夋 gives the sound.

Appears in

HSK 3.0 Level 7-9 Emotions & Feelings

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