无情 (wú qíng) — ruthless, merciless, heartless

Definition

无情 describes a person or force acting without any feeling — cruel or merciless by nature. Broader than 冷酷 (cold, unfeeling) and 残忍 (deliberately cruel); pairs naturally with 现实, 命运, 刀.

adjective

ruthlessmercilessheartless

Examples

无情。
Tā duì dí rén fēi cháng wú qíng.
He is very ruthless toward his enemies.
无情，。
Xiàn shí shì wú qíng de, nǐ bì xū jiē shòu.
Reality is merciless; you have to accept it.
无情。
Tā de huà xiàng yì bǎ wú qíng de dāo.
Her words were like a heartless knife.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

An action followed by what it acts on, fused into one word.

无wúhave no

情qíngfeeling

无 (have no) and 情 (feeling) together mean lacking feeling or being ruthless.

Characters in this word

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 無; 无 is its simplified writing.

For the simplified 无, the story is about 無. 無 drew a person dancing with ox tails held in both hands to pray for rain, then was borrowed for 'have no', so the picture does not explain that meaning.

Open 无 →

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

青

青qīng情qíng

Same sound today

情 shows 心 (heart) beside 青, which gives the sound. The heart part points to feelings and inner states.

Open 情 →

Appears in

HSK 3.0 Level 7-9 Personality & Traits