存心
cún xīn · HSK 7
deliberately
🎯 存心 = store + heart — what you keep in your heart, you do on purpose
存 means store or preserve; 心 means heart. When you store intent in your heart, the act is no accident. In Chinese the heart is the seat of will — storing something there means you meant it.
存 — 才 (talent/sprout) + 子 (child)
Originally written with 才 (a sprout breaking ground) over 子 (child), suggesting a child being raised or kept alive. The character came to mean 'to exist, to remain, to preserve.' Modern uses like 存在 (exist) and 保存 (preserve) reflect this core sense of continued being.
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.