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天真 (tiān zhēn) — innocent, pure (of a person's nature, especially children); naive, artless (often implying lack of experience or judgment)

Definition

天真 describes a pure, trusting nature — often of children, but used of adults it means 'naive' or 'green,' similar to 单纯. 幼稚 is more negative, meaning childish or immature in thinking; 老实 focuses on honesty rather than innocence.

adjective
innocentpure (of a person's nature, especially children)naiveartless (often implying lack of experience or judgment)

Examples

  • 天真，。
    Tā shì yí gè tiān zhēn de xiǎo gū niang, zǒng shì xiāng xìn bié rén.
    She is an innocent little girl who always trusts others.
  • 天真，。
    Nǐ zhè zhǒng xiǎng fǎ tài tiān zhēn le, xiàn shí bú shì zhè yàng de.
    Your thinking is too naive; reality is not like that.
  • 天真。
    Hái zi de tiān zhēn xiào róng ràng rén gǎn dào wēn nuǎn.
    The child's innocent smile makes people feel warm.

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.

天tiānnature
真zhēntrue

“天” suggests by nature, and “真” means true and pure.

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
大大dà
Sound part声符shēngfú
丁
丁dīng天tiān
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The shape comes from a frontal standing man 大 with a head; 天 pairs 大 with 丁 for sound.

Open 天 →

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
貝貝bèicowrie; shell
Sound part声符shēngfú
𠂈
𠂈𠂈真zhēn
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

真 pairs 貝 (cowrie shell, used for the meaning) with 𠂈, which gave the sound and originally drew a headlong fall.

Open 真 →
Appears in
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