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衷心 (zhōng xīn) — heartfelt; wholehearted; cordial

Definition

衷心 is used before verbs of wishing, thanking, or congratulating to mean 'sincerely / wholeheartedly', often in formal speech or writing. Compared with 热情 (about a person's warm manner), 衷心 marks the depth of the speaker's own feeling.

adjective
heartfeltwholeheartedcordial
Easily confused

Examples

  • 衷心。
    Wǒ zhōng xīn zhù fú nǐ yí qiè shùn lì.
    I sincerely wish you all the best.
  • 衷心。
    Wǒ men zhōng xīn zhù hè nǐ qǔ dé le zhè me hǎo de chéng jì.
    We wholeheartedly congratulate you on achieving such good results.
  • 衷心。
    Qǐng jiē shòu wǒ zhōng xīn de jìng yì.
    Please accept my heartfelt respect.

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.

衷zhōnginner
心xīnheart

“衷” (inner) and “心” (heart) combine to mean heartfelt.

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
衣衣yīclothes
Sound part声符shēngfú
中
中zhōng衷zhōng
Same sound today

The shape of 衷 combines 衣 (clothes) and 中 (middle; center), with 中 giving the sound.

Open 衷 →

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 7-9HSK 2.0 Level 6Emotions & Feelings

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