赤诚 (chì chéng) — absolute sincerity; wholehearted devotion

Definition

Literary/formal word for 'absolute sincerity' — a heartfelt, wholehearted devotion. Almost always used in writing or elevated speech, not everyday conversation.

noun
absolute sinceritywholehearted devotion

Examples

  • 赤诚。
    Tā duì zǔ guó huái yǒu yì kē chì chéng zhī xīn.
    He holds a heart of absolute sincerity toward his motherland.
  • 赤诚。
    Péng you zhī jiān yīng dāng chì chéng xiāng dài.
    Friends should treat each other with wholehearted sincerity.
  • 赤诚。
    Zhè wèi lǎo rén de chì chéng gǎn dòng le suǒ yǒu rén.
    This elderly person's absolute sincerity moved everyone.

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.

赤chìpure
诚chéngsincerity

赤 expresses pure or wholehearted, and 诚 expresses sincerity.

Characters in this word

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

赤 is a stylized form showing 大 (a person) and 火 (fire), depicting a person by a fire.

Open 赤 →

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.

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.

Open 诚 →

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