恶人 (è rén) — villain; evil person | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

villainevil person

Measure word · 个

Examples

恶人。
Zhè bù diàn yǐng lǐ de è rén zuì hòu dé dào le chéng fá.
The villain in this movie eventually got punished.
恶人。
Tā xiǎo shí hou jīng cháng bèi è rén qī fu.
When he was a child, he was often bullied by evil people.
恶人。
Zhè ge è rén zuò le hěn duō huài shì.
This evil person has done many bad things.

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.

恶 describes the moral quality of the 人, giving an evil person.

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.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 惡; 恶 is its simplified writing.

亞心惡

Meaning part形符xíngfú

心心xīnheart

Sound part声符shēngfú

亞

亞yā惡è

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

The traditional form 惡 pairs 心 (heart) as the meaning part with 亞 (yā) as the sound part; the simplified 恶 is a later shorthand.

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

The shape of 人 shows a side view of a standing person, with an arm and a leg.

Appears in

People (General)

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