偏心 (piān xīn) — biased, partial (in favor of someone)

Definition

Means showing favoritism toward one person over others, usually unfairly. Used for parents, teachers, or bosses who treat someone better than the rest.

adjective
biasedpartial (in favor of someone)

Examples

  • 偏心
    Fù mǔ bù néng duì hái zi piān xīn, yào gōng píng duì dài.
    Parents should not be partial to any child; they must treat them fairly.
  • 偏心
    Lǎo shī duì nà ge xué shēng hěn piān xīn, zǒng shì gěi tā gāo fēn.
    The teacher is very biased toward that student, always giving him high marks.
  • 偏心
    Lǎo bǎn duì lǎo yuán gōng piān xīn, xīn yuán gōng hěn bù mǎn yì.
    The boss favors the senior employees, and the new employees are very unhappy.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

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

xīnheart

“偏” means to lean or incline, and “心” is the heart, so the image is a heart leaning toward one side.

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
Written in full asrén
Sound part声符shēngfú
biǎnpiān
Same sound today

偏 combines 亻 (人, a person) with 扁, which gives the sound.

Open 偏 →

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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