习惯
xíguàn · HSK 2
custom
🔁 习 = practice + 惯 = accustom; repeated practice becomes habit
习 originally showed a young bird's wings flapping in repeated practice. 惯 combines 忄(heart) + 贯 (string of coins threaded through) — something threaded through the heart so often it becomes automatic.
惯 — heart radical 忄 + 贯 (guàn, string of coins)
A semantic-phonetic compound. The heart radical 忄 signals a mental or emotional quality, while 贯 — originally a string threading coins together — supplies the sound and the idea of 'threading through' continuously. Together they suggest a habit: something the heart strings together repeatedly until it becomes routine.