从容不迫
cóng róng bù pò · HSK 7
calm
🧘 cóng róng sounds like 'song along' — humming along, never rushed
从 (follow) + 容 (composure) + 不迫 (not pressed). Someone who follows their own composure and refuses to be pressed. They hum along at their own pace, unruffled by any deadline.
从 — two 人 (person) figures, one following the other
从 is a pictographic compound showing one person walking behind another, vividly depicting the act of following. The original meaning 'to follow' was extended to 'from' (the starting point one follows out of) and 'to obey'. The traditional form 從 added 辵 (movement) and 止 (foot) to reinforce the walking sense.
不 — single pictograph; bird flying upward
Originally a pictograph in oracle bone script, traditionally interpreted as a bird flying up toward the sky and unable to come down, suggesting negation or refusal. Over time it became the standard negation word in Chinese, used before verbs and adjectives to mean 'not'.