健忘 (jiàn wàng) — forgetful, absentminded | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

A more literary/formal word for 'forgetful' (a tendency, often habitual), stronger than 忘记 (a single act of forgetting).

adjective

forgetfulabsentminded

Examples

健忘，。
Tā zuì jìn hěn jiàn wàng, zǒng shì wàng jì dài yào shi.
He's been very forgetful lately, always forgetting to bring his keys.
健忘。
jiàn wàng De rén zuì hǎo yòng bǐ jì běn huò shǒu jī tí xǐng zì jǐ.
Forgetful people should use a notebook or phone to remind themselves.
健忘，？
Nǐ de jiàn wàng wèn tí yuè lái yuè yán zhòng le, yào bú yào qù yī yuàn kàn kàn?
Your forgetfulness is getting more serious; do you want to go to the hospital and get it checked?

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.

健 means strong and 忘 means forget, giving the idea of being strongly forgetful.

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.

亻建健

Meaning part形符xíngfú

亻Written in full as人rénperson

Sound part声符shēngfú

建

建jiàn健jiàn

Same sound today

The left part 亻 depicts a person, and the right part 建 gives the sound.

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

亡心忘

Meaning part形符xíngfú

心心xīnheart

Sound part声符shēngfú

亡

亡wáng忘wàng

Same sound today

忘 combines 亡, which gives the sound, with 心 (“heart”), showing the sense is about the heart or mind.

Appears in

Personality & Traits

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