亲切
qīnqiè · HSK 3
cordial
🤗 亲 (relative/kin) + 切 (close/intimate) = warm like family
亲 means relative or kin (family closeness), 切 means close or intimate (originally 'to cut close to'). Together: the warmth you feel from someone treating you like family — cordial, genial.
亲 — 立 (stand) + 木 (tree); simplified from 親
The traditional form 親 combined 亲 (phonetic, depicting a hazelnut tree) with 見 (see), suggesting closeness through frequent seeing of family. In simplified Chinese, 見 was dropped, leaving 亲. It now means 'parent,' 'intimate,' or 'in person,' and as qìng denotes in-laws.
切 — 七 (phonetic) + 刀 (knife radical)
切 is a semantic-phonetic compound: 刀 'knife' gives the meaning of cutting, while 七 supplies the sound. The original sense was to slice or cut with a blade. From there it extended figuratively to 'close to' (as in pressed against) and 'urgent/earnest', as in 切实.