念 | niàn

In Mandarin Chinese, 念 (Pinyin: niàn 🔊) is a word with many meanings. As a verb, it can mean “to miss”, “to long for”, “to think of”, “to recall”, “to consider”, “to contemplate”, “to worry”, “to be anxious about”, “to feel compassion for”, “to show affection for”, “to commemorate”, “to pay tribute to”, as well as “to study”, “to learn”, “to read aloud” or “to chant”. As a noun, it can mean “idea”, “thought” or “memory”.

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

As per 今 (contain) + 心 heart/emotions → thought/idea contained deep within the heart (compare 意) → caution (← profound idea).

Once again, Howell mentions the meaning “contain”, this time for 今. However, 今 really means “current”, “now”, “present”. On the other hand, 含, itself a phono-semantic compound of 今 and 口, in addition to its original sense “to keep in the mouth”, can indeed mean “to contain”, “to harbor”, etc. Could it be that 口 “mouth” in 含 simply got replaced with 心 “heart”, so 含 “to keep in the mouth” → 念 “to keep in the heart”?

Some compounds of 念 include

• 意 + 念 = 意念 (yìniàn): thought, notion, will
• 思 + 念 = 思念 (sīniàn 🔊): to miss, to think of, to yearn for, to reminisce
• 想 + 念 = 想念 (xiǎngniàn 🔊): to miss, to think of, to yearn for, to reminisce
• 念 + 想 = 念想 (niànxiǎng): to miss, to cherish; thought, idea, impression; souvenir, keepsake, memento
• 念 + 白 = 念白 (niànbái): spoken parts of a Chinese opera
• 念 + 念 + 不 + 忘 = 念念不忘 (niànniàn bù wàng): to keep in mind constantly; to never forget

念 is a simplified form of a traditional character 念, which is also used in Japanese. As you can see, there is no much difference, apart from the stroke under the “roof” 𠆢.

In Japanese, 念 is pronounced nen (ねん) and means “thought”, “feeling”, “care” or “concern”.

念入て 尺とる虫や 菊の花 一茶 nen irete sashi toru mushi ya kiku no hana carefully measured by the inchworm... chrysanthemum Issa (Translated by David G. Lanoue)

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忆 | yì

In Mandarin Chinese, 忆 (Pinyin: yì 🔊) is a verb “to remember”, “to reminisce”, “to reflect upon” or a noun for “memory”.

忆 is a simplified form of the traditional character 憶. According to Wiktionary, 憶 is a phono-semantic compound of semantic 忄, a radical form of 心 “heart”, and phonetic 意 (Pinyin: yì) which also contains 心. So we can say that there are two hearts in 憶. In the simplified form, 意 got replaced by unrelated but similarly-sounding 乙 (yǐ). You may remember that the same story happened with 亿 (← 億).

Compounds of 忆 include

• 回 “to return” + 忆 = 回忆 (huíyì 🔊): memory, to remember
• 失 “to lose” + 忆 = 失忆 (shīyì): to lose memory
• 记 “to record” + 忆 = 记忆 (jìyì 🔊): to remember, to recall
• 记忆 + 力 “strength” = 记忆力 (jìyìlì): ability to remember; memory

In Japanese, 憶 could be rendered as either おく (oku) or おもう (omou 🔊).

夏燕 谷ゆけり記憶 散りゆけり 金子 natsu tsubame tani yukeri kioku chiri yukeri a summer swallow flies through the valley  — memories scatter Kaneko *

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*	Kaneko Tohta, Selected Haiku, Part 2: 1961—2012. Red Moon Press, 2012, p. 63.

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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心 | xīn

In Mandarin Chinese, 心 (Pinyin: xīn 🔊) has a number of meanings, all of which are ultimately derived from “heart”. Lawrence J. Howell writes in his Etymological Dictionary of Han/Chinese Characters:

A depiction of a slender object encompassed in the heart of another object → mind; breast; center; core; thought; consideration; meaning; taste; spirit; sincerity; emotion; feelings.

In my opinion, this description (of “a slender object”) suits better to one of its radical forms, ⺖, rather than to 心 itself.

I think that 心 is much better representation of human heart than the Western symbol ♥ which does not look like heart at all. Uncle Hanzi says that 心 is “the human torso showing breasts, stomach and navel, now meaning heart”, many historical forms of this character appear to show completely different human organ. In any case, it turns out that 心 on its own refers not to anatomical heart — that would be 心脏 (xīnzàng 🔊) — but to “heart-mind”. Allow me to explain.

Western popular culture (including popular philosophy and popular psychology) tends to differentiate between “heart” (i.e. emotions) and “mind” (i.e. thought) for no good reason. This contrasts with concepts of heart-mind typical for Oriental cultures, such as Sanskrit चित्त (citta). On purely physiological level, we feel emotions with our brain, not heart; it could be that in the East they knew it all along for thousands of years.

In Japanese, 心 is pronounced kokoro (🔊).

百なりや 蔓一筋の 心より 千代 Hyaku nari ya tsuru hitosuji no kokoro yori A hundred different gourds, From the mind Of one vine. Chiyo-ni

It is said that Chiyo, the most famous of women haiku writers, was asked by the Zen Master of Eiheiji Temple to illustrate in a haiku the teaching that a thousand meanings come from one thought. The above verse is the parabolic expression of this Zen principle (which is that of Mahayana Buddhism).

R.H. Blyth, Haiku vol. 4, Autumn—Winter

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