忧心 (yōu xīn) — worry, anxiety | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

worryanxiety

Examples

忧心。
Tā xīn lǐ chōng mǎn le yōu xīn.
Her heart was full of worry.
忧心。
Nǐ de yōu xīn wǒ néng lǐ jiě.
I can understand your worry.
忧心。
Zhè zhǒng yōu xīn yǐng xiǎng le tā de shēng huó.
This kind of worry affected his life.

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.

忧yōuworried

忧 means worried and 心 means heart, so the word denotes a troubled heart or anxiety.

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

Sound part声符shēngfú

尤

尤yóu忧yōu

Same sound today

The heart part 心 marks a feeling, and 尤 gives the sound.

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.

Appears in

Emotions & Feelings

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