TongTong
Sign in

恶意 (è yì) — malice, evil intention

Definition

noun
maliceevil intention

Examples

  • 恶意。
    Tā duì wǒ yǒu è yì.
    He has malice toward me.
  • 恶意。
    Zhè ge rén de è yì hěn míng xiǎn.
    This person's malice is very obvious.
  • 恶意。
    Tā yīn wèi è yì ér shāng hài le bié rén.
    He hurt others because of malice.

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èevil
意yìintention

恶 gives the sense of evil, and 意 names intention, so the word means a bad intention.

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.

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.

Open 恶 →

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 意 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9Abstract Concepts

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