精神 (jīng shén) — (noun) spirit, mind, consciousness, mood; (noun) essence, gist, core idea; (adjective) mental, psychological

Definition

精神 covers both 'spirit/mind' (mood, energy) and the 'essence/gist' of something. 意识 is the cognitive state of being aware; 头脑 is the thinking ability. 大意 / 要领 point to a document's gist only.

noun
spiritmindconsciousnessmoodessencegistcore idea
adjective
mentalpsychological
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 精神，。
    Tā jīn tiān jīng shén bù hǎo, hǎo xiàng hěn lèi.
    He is not in good spirits today; he seems very tired.
  • 精神。
    Wǒ men yào rèn zhēn lǐ jiě wén jiàn de jīng shén.
    We need to carefully understand the spirit of the document.
  • 精神。
    jīng shén Jiàn kāng duì shēn tǐ hěn zhòng yào.
    Mental health is very important for the body.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéSide by side

Two parts of equal weight, alike or opposite in meaning, standing side by side.

精jīngessence
神shénspirit

精 (essence) and 神 (spirit) together refer to the mind or inner vitality.

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.

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.

Open 精 →

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
示示shìgod; deity
Sound part声符shēngfú
申
申shēn神shén
Same sound today

The older form 申 drew lightning, which the ancients regarded as divine; 神 adds 示 (god/deity) to mark that meaning.

Open 神 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 5HSK 2.0 Level 41000 Most Frequent Chinese WordsAbstract ConceptsMental Health2000 Most Frequent Chinese Words

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