灰心
huī xīn · HSK 7
to lose heart
🩶 灰 grey/ash + 心 heart = a greyed-out heart, the spark gone = discouraged
灰 means grey or ashes, 心 means heart. A heart turned the colour of cold ash is one whose fire has burned out, so 灰心 means to lose heart or feel discouraged.
灰 — hand 又 (ナ) + fire 火
灰 originally depicted a hand (ナ, simplified from 又) holding or reaching into fire 火, representing the cooled ashes one can safely pick up after a flame dies. From this concrete sense of 'ashes,' the meaning extended to the color gray and figuratively to discouragement, as in 灰心.
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.