二意 (èr yì) — disloyalty; duplicity; halfheartedness; (colloquial) hesitation; indecision; being of two minds

Definition

二意 means 'wavering loyalty' — being half-hearted or of two minds. It almost always appears inside the set phrase 三心二意; not used alone in modern speech.

noun
disloyaltyduplicityhalfheartedness(colloquial) hesitationindecisionbeing of two minds

Examples

  • 二意，。
    Tā zuò shì zǒng shì sān xīn èr yì, hěn nán chéng gōng.
    He always does things half-heartedly and finds it hard to succeed.
  • 二意，。
    Duì péng you bù néng yǒu èr yì, fǒu zé huì shī qù xìn rèn.
    You must not have duplicity toward friends, or you will lose their trust.
  • ，二意。
    Tā tīng le wǒ de jiàn yì hòu, xīn lǐ qǐ le èr yì.
    After hearing my suggestion, he began to waver in his mind.

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.

二èrtwo
意yìintention

二 means two and 意 means intention; two intentions suggest wavering loyalty.

Characters in this word

An abstract idea shown by a mark or a diagram rather than by a picture of an object.

二 is drawn as two parallel strokes, where the number of strokes shows the amount.

Open 二 →

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 意 →

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