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有心 (yǒu xīn) — intentionally, purposely, deliberately; to have a mind to (do something), to be inclined

Definition

As a verb, 有心 means 'to have the intention / inclination to do something', often as 有心去做… with 去 before the action. Don't confuse with 有心人 'caring/intent person' or the set phrase 有心人. Negate with 没 (没心思/没那份心).

verb
intentionallypurposelydeliberatelyto have a mind to (do something)to be inclined

Examples

  • 有心，。
    Tā yǒu xīn shuō cuò huà, jiù shì wèi le yǐn qǐ zhù yì.
    He intentionally said the wrong thing just to attract attention.
  • 有心，。
    Nǐ jì rán yǒu zhè fèn yǒu xīn, wǒ jiù bāng nǐ yí cì.
    Since you have such good intentions, I'll help you this once.
  • 有心。
    Tā gēn běn méi nà ge yǒu xīn qù xué kāi chē.
    He simply has no intention of learning to drive.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

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

有yǒuhave
心xīnheart

有 means have and 心 means heart or mind, so it expresses having the 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.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
肉肉ròumeat
Sound part声符shēngfú
又
又yòu有yǒu
Same sound today

The form 有 combines 又, used for its sound, with a shape from 肉, 'meat'; the hand-holding-meat story is a folk explanation, not shown in the oldest shape.

Open 有 →

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

The shape of 心 comes from a drawing of a heart, now highly stylized.

Open 心 →
Appears in
Will & Intention

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