恩怨
ēn yuàn · HSK 7
grudges
⚖️ 恩怨 = grace + grudge — the debts and scores between people
恩 means kindness or favor received; 怨 means resentment. Together they name the tangled ledger of who owes whom — old favors remembered and old wrongs unforgiven.
怨 — 夗 (phonetic) + 心 (heart)
A semantic-phonetic compound: the heart radical 心 supplies the meaning (an emotion) while 夗 gives the sound. The original sense was a deep grudge or resentment held in the heart, and the modern meanings 'to resent, blame, complain' all extend from that core feeling.