恻隐之心 (cè yǐn zhī xīn) — a heart of compassion; innate sympathy for others' suffering

Definition

A literary chengyu for a feeling of pity for others' suffering, drawn from Mencian philosophy. Use it in writing, not everyday speech — 'compassion' is the sense, but the tone is lofty and classical.

noun
a heart of compassioninnate sympathy for others' suffering

Examples

  • ，恻隐之心。
    Kàn dào nà xiē wú jiā kě guī de rén, tā dòng le cè yǐn zhī xīn.
    Seeing those homeless people, he felt compassion.
  • 恻隐之心，。
    Rén jiē yǒu cè yǐn zhī xīn, zhè shì mèng zǐ sī xiǎng de hé xīn.
    Everyone has a heart of compassion — this is the core of Mencius's thought.
  • ，恻隐之心，。
    Tā suī fù yǒu, què háo wú cè yǐn zhī xīn, duì qióng rén de kǔ nàn shì ér bú jiàn.
    Although he is rich, he has no compassion at all and turns a blind eye to the suffering of the poor.

Origin

Characters in this word

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 恻 →

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 隱; 隐 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
阝Written in full as阜fù
Sound part声符shēngfú
㥯
㥯㥯隱yǐn
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 隱 pairs 阝 (阜) with 㥯 to give the sound; the simplified 隐 is a shorthand, so its right side is not 㥯.

Open 隐 →

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

The shape pairs 止, a foot, with 一, a beginning place, and means to go.

Open 之 →

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 →

Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.