qíng
noun HSK 7-9 #796

Meanings

  1. 1 feeling; emotion
  2. 2 situation; love

Examples

Xīnqíng hěn hǎo.
I'm in a good mood.
Qíngkuàng zěnmeyàng?
How's the situation?
Àiqíng shì měihǎo de.
Love is beautiful.

Tips

usage
is one of the most important characters: 心情 (mood), 感情 (feelings), 爱情 (romantic love), 情况 (situation), 事情 (matter/thing), 友情 (friendship), 热情 (warm/enthusiastic).

Components

radical
xīn
heart (left-side radical form of 心)
Left is the heart radical in its left-side form — squashed vertical with central stroke and two drop-marks for the chambers. Anchors in the emotion family. The original sense was 'authentic feeling from the heart', from which came love, sentiment, and the social bonds we feel. Same family: fear, 怀 harbor, slow-hearted, quick-hearted.
phonetic
qīng
blue-green; pure (phonetic + semantic)
Right supplies the sound — qīng drifting to qíng (only tone shifts). Same phonetic family: qīng clear, qǐng to request, qíng sunny, jìng quiet. itself originally meant the blue-green of fresh growth, carrying connotations of purity and clarity. So reads as 'pure feeling from the heart' — phonetic with a strong semantic boost.

Stroke Order

qíng