恶念 (è niàn) — evil intentions, malicious thoughts

Definition

A formal, literary term for 'evil intentions' — thoughts of doing harm, held inside a person's heart or mind. Refers to the dark desires themselves, not the harmful action (which would be 恶行).

noun
evil intentionsmalicious thoughts

Examples

  • 恶念。
    Tā xīn zhōng chōng mǎn le è niàn.
    His heart is filled with evil intentions.
  • 恶念，。
    Rén bù néng yǒu è niàn, fǒu zé huì shāng hài zì jǐ.
    One must not have evil intentions, or they will harm themselves.
  • 恶念，。
    Tā bèi è niàn qū shǐ, zuò le cuò shì.
    Driven by evil intentions, he did the wrong thing.

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.

恶èevil
念niànthought

恶 means 'evil' and 念 means 'thought', so together they mean 'evil intentions'.

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.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 惡; 恶 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
心心xīnheart
Sound part声符shēngfú
亞
亞yā惡è
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 惡 pairs 心 (heart) as the meaning part with 亞 (yā) as the sound part; the simplified 恶 is a later shorthand.

Open 恶 →

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

念 combines 今, an upside-down mouth, with 心, the heart, to listen to one's heart.

Open 念 →

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