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性欲 (xìng yù) — sexual desire, libido

Definition

noun
sexual desirelibido

Examples

  • 性欲。
    Qīng chūn qī de rén cháng cháng huì yǒu qiáng liè de xìng yù.
    People in puberty often have strong sexual desires.
  • 性欲。
    Zhè zhǒng yào wù bèi yòng lái yì zhì guò dù de xìng yù.
    This medication is used to suppress excessive libido.
  • 性欲。
    Tā rèn wéi yì shù yīng dāng biǎo dá rén lèi zuì yuán shǐ de xìng yù.
    He believes that art should express humanity's most primal sexual desires.

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.

性xìngsex
欲yùdesire

“性” (sex) specifies the kind of “欲” (desire), making sexual desire.

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

性 is built from 忄 (the heart) and 生 (a sound clue). The heart part connects the word to a person's inner nature or quality.

Open 性 →

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
欠欠qiàn
Sound part声符shēngfú
谷
谷gǔ欲yù
Same sound today

欲 is made of 谷, which supplies the sound, and 欠, which relates to the meaning.

Open 欲 →
Appears in
Abstract Concepts

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