劳心 (láo xīn) — to work with one's mind; to use mental effort; to worry; to be anxious

Definition

A verb-object phrase meaning 'to exert mental effort' (think/work hard mentally) or 'to worry' — it can also pair with 费力 ('劳心费力') to mean both mental and physical exertion. Often used in written or literary contexts rather than casual speech.

verb
to work with one's mindto use mental effortto worryto be anxious

Examples

  • 劳心，。
    Zhè jiàn shì tài láo xīn le, wǒ bù xiǎng zài guǎn le.
    This matter is too mentally draining; I don't want to deal with it anymore.
  • ，。
    Wèi le hái zi men, fù mǔ láo le yí bèi zi xīn.
    For their children, the parents worried their whole lives.
  • 劳心，。
    Tā měi tiān láo xīn fèi lì dì gōng zuò, cóng bú bào yuàn.
    He works hard with mental and physical effort every day, never complaining.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

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

劳láotoil
心xīnmind

劳 (toil) applied to 心 (mind) gives mental effort or worry.

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 勞; 劳 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
力力lì
Sound part声符shēngfú
𬡤
𬡤𬡤勞láo
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 勞 uses 力 for the meaning and 𬡤 for the sound; the simplified 劳 is a later shortened shape.

Open 劳 →

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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