Origin

This character combines a mind or heart (the 心 component at the bottom, which acts as a classifier for emotional and mental concepts) with 次, which suggests sequence or following one's own order. Together they paint the idea of a heart that follows only its own desires without restraint—doing things in whatever order one personally wants rather than according to rules or consideration for others. The character thus came to mean acting selfishly or arbitrarily, letting your own wishes dictate your actions.

AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Compound ideographic (combined meanings).