思 (sāi) — think; consider; deliberate; think of; long for…

Definition

思 (sāi) here is the bound morpheme in compounds like 思考 and 思念 — the everyday verbs 想 alone cover 'think' and 想念 cover 'miss/long for'.

bound form

thinkconsiderdeliberatethink oflong forthought

。
Wǒ sāi kǎo zhè ge wèn tí.
I think about this problem.
思思，。
Tā sāi lái sāi qù, hái shì méi jué dìng.
He thought it over and over but still didn't decide.
思？
Nǐ zài sāi shén me ne?
What are you thinking about?

Sound + meaning

六书liùshū

形声xíngshēng

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

心心xīnheart

Sound part声符shēngfú

囟

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

In 思, 心 (heart) points to thinking, while the top part is a changed form of 囟, which supplied the sound.

Appears in