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恩怨 (ēn yuàn) — gratitude and grudges intertwined; mixed feelings from a past relationship; long-held grievance or resentment

Definition

恩怨 names the tangled pair of gratitude (恩) and resentment (怨) from a past relationship — not just resentment alone like 怨恨 or 怨气, and not just the kindness half like 恩情.

noun
gratitude and grudges intertwinedmixed feelings from a past relationshiplong-held grievance or resentment

Examples

  • 恩怨。
    Tā men zhī jiān de ēn yuàn yǐ jīng jiū chán le shí jǐ nián.
    The grudges between them have been entangled for over a decade.
  • 恩怨，。
    Wèi le bú zài yǒu ēn yuàn, tā xuǎn zé le yuán liàng.
    To avoid further grievances, he chose to forgive.
  • 恩怨，。
    Tā men jué dìng fàng xià ēn yuàn, chóng xīn zuò péng you.
    They decided to let go of past grievances and be friends again.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéCoordinate

Two parts of equal weight, alike or opposite in meaning, standing side by side.

恩ēnfavor
怨yuànresentment

恩 (favor) and 怨 (resentment) are parallel feelings, together covering gratitude and grudges.

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
心心xīnheart
Sound part声符shēngfú
因
因yīn恩ēn
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

恩 puts 因, which gives the sound, beside 心, a heart.

Open 恩 →

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
夗
夗wǎn怨yuàn
Same sound today

怨 has 心 (heart) below and 夗 above as a sound part; the heart part shows the meaning concerns feelings.

Open 怨 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9HSK 2.0 Level 6Emotions & Feelings

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