TongTong
Sign in

怡然自得 (yí rán zì dé) — happy and content (idiom); pleasantly satisfied with oneself

Definition

A literary idiom describing a personal, present-moment feeling of being happily content. Unlike 知足常乐, which is a life philosophy about gratitude, 怡然自得 is a momentary mood or state of mind.

phrase
happy and content (idiom)pleasantly satisfied with oneself

Examples

  • ，怡然自得。
    Tā yí gè rén zuò zài hú biān, yí rán zì dé dì kàn shū.
    He sat alone by the lake, reading a book, happy and content.
  • ，，怡然自得。
    Tuì xiū yǐ hòu, tā měi tiān yǎng huā zhòng cài, shēng huó yí rán zì dé.
    After retirement, he grows flowers and vegetables every day, living a happy and contented life.
  • ，怡然自得。
    Tā tīng zhe yīn yuè, liǎn shàng lù chū yí rán zì dé de wēi xiào.
    Listening to music, she wore a happy and contented smile on her face.

Origin

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
忄Written in full as心xīnheart
Sound part声符shēngfú
台
台tái怡⁰yí
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

怡 uses 忄, a form of 心 (heart), together with 台, which shows how it is pronounced.

Open 怡 →

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
火火huǒfire
Sound part声符shēngfú
肰
肰rán然rán
Same sound today

然 is made from 肰, which gives the sound, and 火, which shows fire, matching the old sense 'to burn'.

Open 然 →

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

假借jiǎjièLater borrowed for its sound alone — the picture has nothing to do with today’s meaning.

自 originally drew a nose. It was borrowed purely for its sound to write 自, so the picture and the meaning are unrelated.

Open 自 →

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

The old form 㝵 showed a hand picking up a cowry, meaning to obtain; later changes turned that picture into 得.

Open 得 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9

Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.