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创意 (chuàng yì) — (noun) creativity; creative ideas; (verb) to conceive or create (something) in an innovative way; to come up with a creative idea

Definition

创意 focuses on the IDEAS themselves — 'creative ideas' or 'creativity' as a noun, and 'to come up with something creative' as a verb. 创作 is the act of making artistic/literary works; 创新 is the broader process of innovating or inventing new methods.

noun
creativitycreative ideas
verb
to conceive or create (something) in an innovative wayto come up with a creative idea

Examples

  • 创意。
    Zhè ge xiàng mù xū yào gèng duō de chuàng yì.
    This project needs more creativity.
  • 创意。
    Tā de chuàng yì zǒng néng gěi rén dài lái jīng xǐ.
    His creative ideas always bring surprises.
  • 创意。
    Tā men chuàng yì le yí gè xīn de fāng àn.
    They came up with a new plan.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

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

创chuàngcreate
意yìidea

创 means create and 意 means idea; together they picture creating an idea, then extend to creativity.

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.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 創; 创 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
刀刀dāoknife
Sound part声符shēngfú
倉
倉cāng創chuàng
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 創 pairs 倉 with 刀 (knife) to write 'wound', and 倉 gives the pronunciation. The simplified 创 is a later shorthand.

Open 创 →

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 意 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 6Abstract Concepts5000 Most Frequent Chinese Words

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