欢心 (huān xīn) — favor; liking; joy; delight | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

Refers to someone's favor or approval — almost always used with verbs like 讨 or 赢得, meaning to curry or win someone's liking. The 'joy' sense is secondary; this is more about pleasing people than feeling happy.

noun

favorlikingjoydelight

Examples

欢心。
Tā de biǎo yǎn yíng dé le dà jiā de huān xīn.
Her performance won everyone's favor.
欢心。
Tā hěn huì tǎo lǐng dǎo de huān xīn.
He is very good at winning the favor of his boss.
，欢心。
Tīng dào zhè ge hǎo xiāo xi, tā yǎn shì bú zhù nèi xīn de huān xīn.
Hearing this good news, he could not hide his inner joy.

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.

欢 gives joy and 心 gives heart, so the word names the joy or favor in someone's heart.

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 歡; 欢 is its simplified writing.

雚欠歡

Meaning part形符xíngfú

Sound part声符shēngfú

雚

雚guàn歡huān

Same sound today

The traditional form 歡 uses 雚 for the sound and 欠 for the meaning; the simplified 欢 is a later shorthand, so its parts do not carry that history.

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.

Appears in

Emotions & Feelings

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