好心肠 (hǎo xīn cháng) — good-hearted, kind-hearted

Definition

adjective

good-heartedkind-hearted

好心肠。
Tā zhēn shì gè hǎo xīn cháng de rén.
She is really a kind-hearted person.
好心肠，。
Tā hǎo xīn cháng, suǒ yǐ dà jiā dōu xǐ huan tā.
He has a good heart, so everyone likes him.
好心肠，。
Nǐ zhēn shì hǎo xīn cháng, xiè xie nǐ de bāng zhù.
You are so kind-hearted, thank you for your help.

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.

心肠disposition

联合Side by side

The part meaning good describes 心肠, where heart and intestines together stand for disposition, so the word means good-hearted.

Characters in this word

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

女子好

好 joins 女 (woman) and 子 (child), understood as a woman with a child, linked to goodness or affection.

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.

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 腸; 肠 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

Sound part声符shēngfú

昜

昜yáng腸cháng

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 腸 pairs 肉, the body, with 昜, which gives the sound; the simplified 肠 is a later shorthand.

Appears in