感 | gǎn

In Mandarin Chinese, 感 (Pinyin: gǎn 🔊) is a word of many meanings. As a verb, it can stand for “to feel”, “to perceive”; “to affect”, “to move”, “to touch”; “be affected by”, “be sensitive to”; “be grateful”, “to thank”; “to long for”, “to miss”, “to be sentimental”, “to sigh with emotion”. As a noun, it can mean “emotion”, “feeling”, “sensation”, “sense” or “thought”.

According to Wiktionary, 感 is a phono-semantic compound of phonetic 咸 and semantic 心, “heart-mind”. Remembering that 心 includes both heart and mind, it’s not difficult to see why Chinese can use the same word 感 for both “emotion” and “thought”.

Lawrence J. Howell writes in his Etymological Dictionary of Han/Chinese Characters:

咸 (shut) + 心 heart/emotions → emotion/feeling that shuts off sensation (= moves/affects one to the point of muteness or immobility).

However, 咸 really means “all”, “completely”, “together” or “united”. Could the whole combination be “to feel with all heart”?

感 is a simplified form of a traditional character 感. There is a subtle difference between these two. In the traditional 感, the “heart” 心 is drawn inside of the 咸 component, directly below the 口. In the simplified 感, the 心 is placed below the whole 咸 bit.

感 are often combined with other hanzi containing 心 (or its radical form, 忄), for example:

• 感 + 想 = 感想 (gǎnxiǎng 🔊): impressions, reflections, thoughts; to miss, to reminisce, to think of, to yearn for
• 感 + 念 = 感念 (gǎnniàn): to recall fondly; to recall sadly
• 快 + 感 = 快感 (kuàigǎn): delight, joy, pleasant feeling, pleasure, thrill

Some more compounds of 感:

• 感 + 激 = 感激 (gǎnjī 🔊): to be grateful
• 感 + 人 = 感人 (gǎnrén): heart-warming, moving, touching
• 白 + 感 = 百感 (bǎigǎn): all kinds of feelings and emotions
• 好 + 感 = 好感 (hǎogǎn): good feeling; goodwill; favour
• 口 + 感 = 口感 (kǒugǎn): mouthfeel, taste
• 手 + 感 = 手感 (shǒugǎn): feel, touch
• 美 + 感 = 美感 (měigǎn): sense of beauty
• 音 + 感 = 音感 (yīngǎn): sense of rhythm, pitch, sound, tone quality, etc.

Now for a bit of poetry. Chunwang (春望) is recognised as one of the “best and best-known works” by the Tang dynasty poet Du Fu (杜甫, 712—770). The poem is notoriously difficult to translate. With 春 (chūn) meaning “spring” and 望 (wàng) “to observe”, “to watch”, “to hope”, the title of the poem has been variously rendered as “Spring View”, “Spring Scene”, “Spring Gaze”, “Spring Outlook”, “Spring Prospect”, “Spring Hope” and so on. I like the translation by Vikram Seth, although the name he gave it, Spring Scene in Time of War, conveys more information than needed.

春望 (simplified) 国破山河在 城春草木深 感时花溅泪 恨别鸟惊心 烽火连三月 家书抵万金 白头搔更短 浑欲不胜簪	春望 (traditional) 國破山河在 城春草木深 感時花濺淚 恨別鳥驚心 烽火連三月 家書抵萬金 白頭搔更短 渾欲不勝簪
杜甫

Spring Scene in Time of War The state lies ruined; hills and streams survive. Spring in the city; grass and leaves now thrive. Moved by the times, the flowers shed their dew. The birds seem startled; they hate parting too. The steady beacon fires are three months old. A word from home is worth a ton of gold. I scratch my white hair which is grown so thin It soon won’t let me stick my hat pin in. Du Fu (Translated by Vikram Seth)

More photos related to thought, hanzi and calligraphy @ Shutterstock.

意 | yì

In Mandarin Chinese, 意 (Pinyin: yì 🔊) is a word with many meanings, one of which, by the way, is “meaning”. It also can mean “thought”, “idea”, “opinion”, “mind”, “heart”, “soul”, “conscience”, “intention”, “wish”, “desire”... Also, 意 is short for 意大利 (Yìdàlì 🔊), “Italy”.

At the base of 意 — or shall I say, at its heart? — is our old friend 心, “heart-mind”. But what’s on top? According to Wiktionary,

Modern form is a compound of 音 and 心 (“heart”). However, the top component is etymologically unrelated to 音.

Lawrence J. Howell writes in his Etymological Dictionary of Han/Chinese Characters:

As per 音 (contained) + 心 heart/emotions → keep contained in the heart (compare 念) → (deep) thought; mind; signification.

But I can’t find the meaning “contained” for 音. Instead, it has many other meanings, all ultimately related to sound, and it is pronounced yīn (🔊). So I think I can safely say that 意 is a phono-semantic compound of phonetic 音 and semantic 心.

Many compounds of 意 include

• 意 + 中 + 人 = 意中人 (yìzhōngrén): the person one has in mind, the object of one’s affections, one’s beloved
• 意 + 思 = 意思 (yìsi 🔊, yìsī): meaning, significance; interest, fun; hint, trace; opinion, view; token of appreciation; friendship, camaraderie
• 好 + 意思 = 好意思 (hǎoyìsi, hǎoyìsī): to feel no shame; to have the nerve; to dare
• 好 + 意 = 好意 (hǎoyì 🔊): good intention; kindness
• 美 + 意 = 美意 (měiyì): good intention; kindness
• 中 + 意 = 中意 (zhòngyì 🔊): to be to one’s liking; to catch the fancy of
• 生 + 意 = 生意: 1. (shēngyi): business, trade; 2. (shēngyì): vitality
• 大 + 意 = 大意 (dàyì 🔊): (n.) general idea, main points; (adj.) careless, negligent
• 天 + 意 = 天意 (tiānyì): will of heaven, God’s will, providence; will of the emperor
• 公 + 意 = 公意 (gōngyì): will of the public
• 心 + 意 = 心意 (xīnyì): feelings; intention, purpose, intent, inclination, disposition; friendly regard, affection
• 一 + 心 + 一 + 意 = 一心一意 (yīxīnyīyì): heart and soul; wholeheartedly
• 三 + 心 + 二 + 意 = 三心二意 (sānxīn'èryì): shilly-shally; half-hearted

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美 | měi

In Mandarin Chinese, 美 (Pinyin: měi 🔊) has many meanings most of which have something to do with beauty. It could be an adjective for “beautiful”, “pretty”, “good-looking”, “fine”, “delicious” etc.; a verb meaning “to beautify”, “to praise”, “to be pleased with oneself”; or a noun for “beauty”, “beautiful things” or “good deed”.

According to Wiktionary, 美 is a pictogram of

羊 (“goat, sheep or feathers”) + 大 (“big”) — a person with a headdress of feathers or ram’s horn.

Likewise, Uncle Hanzi mentions “possibly a sheep skin hat”. Not exactly the first thing that I associate with beauty, but why not. Lawrence J. Howell writes in his Etymological Dictionary of Han/Chinese Characters:

The present form combines 大 person standing outstretched and 羊 sheep (originally, goat), but neither of these elements can supply the Old Chinese pronunciation of the character. The phonetically close term conveyed by 㒼 <mán 🔊> <...> suggests that 美, like 㒼, involved the notion “cover the body completely with an animal skin that has its head still attached”. The exact provenance of the meanings beautiful and good is uncertain, as is the identity of the element replaced by 大.

Many compounds of 美 include

• 美 + 好 = 美好 (měihǎo): fine, wonderful, glorious, happy
• 美 + 人 = 美人 (měirén): beautiful woman, lovely lady
• 美 + 甲 “nail” = 美甲 (měijiǎ): manicure and pedicure
• 美 + 容 “to allow” = 美容 (měiróng): to have a beauty treatment
• 美容 + 院 “courtyard” = 美容院 (měiróngyuàn): beauty parlour
• 美 + 工 “work” = 美工 (měigōng): art design

美 is also short for 亚美利加 / 亞美利加 (Yàměilìjiā), which is a phonetic approximation of the word “America”. So make no mistake: 美国 means “American country”, not “beautiful country”.

• 美 + 洲 “continent” = 美洲 (Měizhōu): America (as a continent), Americas
• 中 “centre” + 美洲 = 中美洲 (Zhōngměizhōu 🔊): Central America
• 北 “north” + 美洲 = 北美洲 (Běiměizhōu 🔊): North America
• 南 “south” + 美洲 = 南美洲 (Nánměizhōu): South America
• 美 + 国 “country” = 美国 (Měiguó 🔊): the United States of America

More photos related to beauty, hanzi and calligraphy @ Shutterstock.