诚心 (chéng xīn) — sincere intention; earnestness; genuine feeling | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

A noun meaning 'sincere heart' — the genuine intention behind an action, often used with 有 or 用 to describe how one treats others or approaches a task.

noun

sincere intentionearnestnessgenuine feeling

Examples

诚心。
Tā de yí piàn chéng xīn gǎn dòng le suǒ yǒu rén.
His sincere feeling moved everyone.
诚心。
Nǐ yào yǒu chéng xīn cái néng jiāo dào zhēn zhèng de péng you.
You need to have sincere intentions to make real friends.
诚心。
Wǒ yòng chéng xīn duì dài měi yí gè kè hù.
I treat every client with sincerity.

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.

诚chéngsincere

诚 gives the quality of sincerity, while 心 points to the inner feeling, together giving earnest 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 誠; 诚 is its simplified writing.

言成誠

Meaning part形符xíngfú

言言yánspeech

Sound part声符shēngfú

成

成chéng誠chéng

Same sound today

In 誠, 言 is the speech part and 成 gives the sound; this is about the traditional form 誠, not the simplified 诚.

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.

Appears in

Personality & Traits

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