恶心
ě xīn , è xīn · HSK 4
to feel sick
🤢 恶心 = evil/bad (恶) + heart (心) — a bad-heart feeling, i.e. nausea
恶 means bad/evil and 心 means heart, so 恶心 literally reads as bad-heart, the Chinese way of naming that sick-to-the-stomach feeling. Note the tone shift: ě xīn = nausea/disgusting, è xīn = malice.
恶 — 亚 (yà) phonetic + 心 (heart) below
A semantic-phonetic compound: the heart radical 心 carries the meaning, while 亚 supplies the sound. Originally written 惡, it depicted a 'heart' beneath 亞, suggesting feelings of dislike or hatred. Over time it extended from 'to hate' (wù) to 'evil, bad' (è).
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.