精心 (jīng xīn) — meticulous; careful; done with great care | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

精心 describes work done with great care and effort, often implying planning or design. Stronger and more deliberate than 仔细, and more about the result than 细心 or 用心 (which focus on a person's attitude).

adjective

meticulouscarefuldone with great care

Examples

精心。
Tā wèi nán péng you jīng xīn tiāo xuǎn le yí jiàn lǐ wù.
She carefully picked out a gift for her boyfriend.
精心。
Zhè cì huó dòng shì gōng sī jīng xīn cè huà de.
This event was meticulously planned by the company.
精心。
Tā jīng xīn shè jì le yí tào jiā tíng zhuāng xiū fāng àn.
He carefully designed a home renovation plan.

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.

精jīngcareful

精 (careful) and 心 (heart) together suggest doing something with great care.

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.

米青精

Meaning part形符xíngfú

米米mǐrice

Sound part声符shēngfú

青

青qīng精jīng

Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

精 pairs 米 (rice) with 青, which gives the sound; the character originally meant polished rice.

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

HSK 3.0 Level 6 HSK 2.0 Level 6 Good & Bad

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