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专心 (zhuān xīn) — concentrated, focused; paying full attention

Definition

专心 describes a person's state of focused attention on a task — 'concentrated, absorbed.' Unlike 集中 (which can mean physically gathered or centralized), 专心 is specifically mental focus on what you're doing.

adjective
concentratedfocusedpaying full attention

Examples

  • 专心。
    Tā xué xí hěn zhuān xīn.
    He studies very attentively.
  • 专心。
    Qǐng nǐ zhuān xīn tīng lǎo shī shuō huà.
    Please listen to the teacher carefully.
  • 专心。
    Zuò zhè jiàn shì xū yào zhuān xīn.
    Doing this task requires concentration.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

An action followed by what it acts on, fused into one word.

专zhuānconcentrate
心xīnmind

专 means to concentrate, and 心 is the mind, so the word pictures concentrating one's 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 專; 专 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 專 shows 又, a hand, turning 叀, a spindle; this came to mean gathering several things into one.

Open 专 →

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
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