敏感
mǐngǎn · HSK 5
be sensitive
📡 敏 = quick/agile + 感 = feel; quick-to-feel = sensitive
敏 carries the sense of nimble or sharp (as in 敏捷 agile), and 感 means to feel or sense (as in 感觉). Together: sharp-feeling, i.e. sensitive or susceptible. Sound hook: mǐn rhymes with keen, and keen senses are sensitive ones.
敏 — every 每 + tap/strike 攵
敏 combines 每 (every, originally a woman with hair ornament) with 攵 (a hand holding a stick, indicating action). The original sense suggested quick, diligent action — responding swiftly to every task. It came to mean 'quick, agile, sharp' in both physical and mental senses.
感 — heart 心 + 咸 (xián, phonetic)
A semantic-phonetic compound. The heart radical 心 at the bottom carries the meaning of feeling or emotion, while 咸 supplies the sound. Together 感 conveys being moved in the heart, hence 'to feel,' 'sense,' or 'be affected by' something.