verb #22,315

Meanings

  1. 1 to know
  2. 2 all
  3. 3 in full detail

Examples

Xiángqíng qǐng láidiàn zīxún, wǒmen huì xīxīn jiědá.
Please call for details; we will answer attentively.
Tā duì zhèlǐ de qíngkuàng hěn shúxī.
He is very familiar with the situation here.

Tips

usage
Common in 熟悉 (shúxī, familiar) and 悉心 (xīxīn, attentive).

Components

radical
xīn
heart; mind
Bottom is the indexing radical — pictograph of a heart with its four chambers. Combined with the discerning paw-print above, the whole character pictures the mind tracking every detail: to know in full. Puts in the mental-state family with think, imagine, feel.
semantic
biàn
distinguish; differentiate
Top — pictograph of an animal paw-print with claws splayed, the original graph for "to distinguish by tracks." Here it supplies the meaning of careful discrimination: making out fine differences. Same component appears in (turn, foreign) and (explain), all sharing this discerning sense.

Stroke Order