adjective HSK 4 #5,129

Meanings

  1. 1 thin; slender; fine
  2. 2 delicate; detailed; careful

Examples

Tā de tóufa yòu hēi yòu xì.
Her hair is both black and fine.
Zhè tiáo xiàn tài xì le.
This thread is too thin.
Nǐ yào xì xiǎng yīxià.
You should think about it carefully.

Tips

usage
is the opposite of (thick; coarse). 细心 = careful (fine-hearted), 粗心 = careless (coarse-hearted).

Components

radical
silk thread (radical form)
Left silk radical, the side-form of . Marks as a thread/fabric character: silk fibres are the prototypical fine thing — long, slender, delicate. The same radical anchors (red), 线 (thread), (paper), (weave).
phonetic
tián
field (graphic only)
Right side looks like but is graphically derived from (fontanelle/skull) in the traditional , where supplied the sound. PRC simplification flattened into the more familiar shape. The 'field' meaning plays no role; this is a sound carrier whose original phonetic was the soft head-crown of an infant.

Stroke Order