伤心
shāngxīn · HSK 3
be sad
💔 伤心 = 伤 (injure) + 心 (heart); literally injured-heart = sad
伤 means wound or injure; 心 means heart. An injured heart is the standard Chinese metaphor for sadness or being broken-hearted. Same logic as English heartbroken, just built from two characters.
伤 — person radical 亻 + 㿝 (phonetic)
伤 is the simplified form of 傷. It combines the person radical 亻, indicating a human being affected, with a phonetic component derived from 昜. The original sense was a wound or injury to a person, which extended to mean 'to hurt,' 'injury,' and figuratively 'to grieve' or 'sorrow.'
心 — pictograph of a heart with chambers and aorta
心 is a pictograph showing a stylized heart, with strokes representing the organ's chambers and the aorta at the top. Originally meaning the physical heart, it broadened to cover mind, feelings, and intentions, since ancient Chinese thought located thinking and emotion in the heart.