闲心 (xián xīn) — leisurely mood, relaxed state of mind (for non-essential activities)

Definition

闲心 (xián xīn) means the relaxed mood for doing something optional — almost always used in negatives like 没/没有 + 闲心 + verb, meaning 'no time/inclination to bother with'.

noun
leisurely moodrelaxed state of mind (for non-essential activities)

Examples

  • ，闲心。
    Tā zuì jìn gōng zuò tài máng, gēn běn méi yǒu xián xīn qù lǚ yóu.
    He's been too busy with work lately to have any leisure mood for traveling.
  • ，闲心。
    Tuì xiū yǐ hòu, tā zhōng yú yǒu le xián xīn xué huà huà.
    After retiring, she finally had the leisure to learn painting.
  • 闲心。
    Kǎo shì qián wǒ nǎ yǒu shén me xián xīn kàn diàn shì a.
    Before the exam, how could I possibly be in a leisurely mood to watch TV?

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.

闲xiánidle
心xīnmind

“闲” means idle and “心” means mind, so it describes a relaxed state of mind.

Characters in this word

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 閒; 闲 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 閒 puts 月 (moon) inside 門 (door), as if moonlight peeks through a door; this picture gives the idea of a gap or space. The simplified 闲 is a later abbreviation.

Open 闲 →

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 →

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