Meaning & readings
heart, mind, spirit, heart radical (no. 61)
On’yomi シン
Kun’yomi こころ、-ごころ
Origin
The character 心 is a simple picture of a human heart. The four strokes form a shape resembling the organ itself — the pointed bottom and the curved top with small indentations suggest the anatomical form. Because the heart was traditionally considered the center of emotions and thinking in East Asian philosophy, this physical picture came to represent not just the organ but also the mind, spirit, and emotions. That's why the character carries meanings like "heart," "mind," and "spirit" all at once.
Components
This character is treated as a single, undivided shape (心).
Common words
Reference
- Strokes
- 4
- Kangxi radical
- 61
- Formation type
- Pictographic or simple
- Grade
- Grade 2 (Kyōiku)
- Frequency rank
- #157 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 3
- Unicode
- U+05FC3