心肠
xīn cháng · HSK 7
intention
❤️ 心肠 = 心 heart + 肠 intestines; the gut-and-heart that hold your disposition
Literally heart (心) plus intestines (肠) — the old idea that your true feelings and good or bad nature sit in the gut. Used for someone's inclination or kindness, as in 好心肠 (kind-hearted).
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.
肠 — meat radical 月(肉) + 昜 (yáng, phonetic)
肠 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The left side 月 is the 'meat/flesh' radical, marking it as a body part. The right side 昜 (yáng) supplies the sound, which shifted over time to cháng. It originally referred to intestines, and still does today.