胸中 (xiōng zhōng) — in one's heart; in one's mind

Definition

Literary phrase for 'in one's heart / mind' — used in writing to describe inner feelings, thoughts, or convictions, more formal than the plain 心里.

noun
in one's heartin one's mind

Examples

  • 胸中,。
    Tā xiōng zhōng yǒu xiǎng fǎ, dàn bìng méi yǒu shuō chū lái.
    He has thoughts in his mind, but he didn't say them out loud.
  • 胸中。
    Zhè jù shī biǎo dá le tā xiōng zhōng de bēi fèn.
    This line of poetry expresses the grief and anger in his heart.
  • 胸中。
    Tā xiōng zhōng zhuāng zhe tiān xià dà shì.
    He has the world's great affairs stored in his mind.

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.

中zhōnginside

The inside of the chest refers to one's mind or heart.

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
匈
匈xiōng胸xiōng
Same sound today

胸 adds 肉 (meat/flesh) to the original form 匈, which provides the sound.

Open 胸 →

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

The original picture showed a flagpole with a drum in the middle, set up in the center of a field.

Open 中 →

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