TongTong
Sign in

潜心 (qián xīn) — to concentrate fully on; to be single-mindedly devoted to (a pursuit)

Definition

潜心 means concentrating one's mind fully on a long-term pursuit (research, art). It is more serious and effort-focused than 一心一意, and stresses deep devotion rather than the active effort of 着力.

verb
to concentrate fully onto be single-mindedly devoted to (a pursuit)

Examples

  • 潜心，。
    Tā qián xīn yán jiū le èr shí nián, zhōng yú yǒu le tū pò.
    He devoted himself to research for twenty years and finally made a breakthrough.
  • 潜心。
    Tā qián xīn chuàng zuò le yí bù wěi dà de xiǎo shuō.
    She single-mindedly created a great novel.
  • 潜心。
    Xǔ duō xué zhě xuǎn zé qián xīn yán jiū gǔ dài wén míng.
    Many scholars choose to concentrate fully on researching ancient civilizations.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

An action followed by what it acts on, fused into one word.

潜qiánimmerse
心xīnheart/mind

潜 here means to immerse, and 心 is the heart or mind, so the meaning pictures immersing one's mind in a task.

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 潛; 潜 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
水水shuǐ
Sound part声符shēngfú
朁
朁cǎn潛qián
Same sound today

The form 潛 has 水 as a meaning part and 朁 as a sound part; this note is about 潛, not the simplified 潜.

Open 潜 →

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 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9Thinking & Cognition

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