Origin

The character combines a heart radical on the left, which marks this as a word about emotions or inner states, with the component 毎 on the right that serves as a sound hint for the character's Chinese pronunciation. The heart component makes sense for "regret" because regret is fundamentally an emotional response—a feeling of sorrow or disappointment about something you did or didn't do. Over time, the two parts fused into a single character that carries the meaning of repenting or feeling remorseful about past actions.

AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Phono-semantic (meaning + sound hint).