童真 (tóng zhēn) — childlike innocence; innocent and genuine nature of a child

Definition

A literary, abstract noun for the 'innocent, genuine quality of a child' — closer to 'childlike innocence' as a valued quality than to 幼稚 ('immature/childish', which is usually negative).

noun
childlike innocenceinnocent and genuine nature of a child
Easily confused

Examples

  • 童真。
    Tā de tóng zhēn ràng rén gǎn dào wēn nuǎn.
    Her childlike innocence makes people feel warm.
  • 童真。
    Chéng nián rén yě xū yào bǎo liú yí fèn tóng zhēn.
    Adults also need to retain a measure of childlike innocence.
  • 童真。
    Hái zi de tóng zhēn shì zuì bǎo guì de dōng xī.
    A child's innocence is the most precious 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.

童tóngchild
真zhēninnocence

童 supplies the sense of a child, and 真 supplies innocence, giving childlike innocence.

Characters in this word

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

  • 䇂䇂䇂chisel
  • 見見jiànkneeling person with a huge eye

The form 童 comes from a pairing of 䇂 (a chisel) with 見 (a kneeling person with a huge eye), depicting a person having an eye gouged out.

Open 童 →

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
貝貝bèicowrie; shell
Sound part声符shēngfú
𠂈
𠂈𠂈真zhēn
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

真 pairs 貝 (cowrie shell, used for the meaning) with 𠂈, which gave the sound and originally drew a headlong fall.

Open 真 →

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