思绪万千 (sī xù wàn qiān) — one's mind is in a whirl; a thousand thoughts crowd in

Definition

A written idiom for being overwhelmed by many tangled thoughts at once. Pairs with the subject's mind or feelings (思绪, 心情) and conveys emotional turmoil, not just 'thinking a lot'.

idiom
one's mind is in a whirla thousand thoughts crowd in

Examples

  • ，思绪万千，。
    Yè shēn le, tā tǎng zài chuáng shàng sī xù wàn qiān, wú fǎ rù shuì.
    Late at night, he lay in bed with a whirl of thoughts, unable to fall asleep.
  • ，思绪万千，。
    Shōu dào nà fēng xìn hòu, tā sī xù wàn qiān, bù zhī gāi rú hé huí fù.
    After receiving that letter, her mind was in a tumult and she didn't know how to reply.
  • ，思绪万千，。
    Bì yè qián xī, tóng xué men sī xù wàn qiān, jì yǒu bú shè yòu yǒu qī dài.
    On the eve of graduation, the students' minds were full of thoughts, both reluctant and expectant.

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.

思绪thoughts
思sīthought绪xùmood
联合Side by side
万千thousands
万wànten thousand千qiānthousand
联合Side by side

思 and 绪 mean thoughts; 万 and 千 mean thousands, so countless thoughts crowd the mind.

Characters in this word

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
心心xīnheart
Sound part声符shēngfú
囟
囟xìn思sī
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

In 思, 心 (heart) points to thinking, while the top part is a changed form of 囟, which supplied the sound.

Open 思 →

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 緒; 绪 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
糹Written in full as糸mì
Sound part声符shēngfú
者
者zhě緒xù
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 緒 has 糹 (silk) and 者; 者 gives the sound. The simplified 绪 is not the form described here.

Open 绪 →

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 萬; 万 is its simplified writing.

For 万, the form 萬 was originally a picture of a scorpion, later borrowed for its sound to write 'ten thousand'; the scorpion picture is unrelated to that number.

Open 万 →

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
一一yīone, signifying a number
Sound part声符shēngfú
人
人rén千qiān
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

千 pairs 人, whose sound was similar, with 一, a number stroke; the extra line was explained as extension, and a thousand is a number reached by extending counting.

Open 千 →

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