爱好
àihào · HSK 1
like
❤️ 爱 (love) + 好 (good/like) = hobby; what you love-like doing
Compound of 爱 (ài, love) and 好 (hào, to be fond of — note the 4th tone, different from hǎo meaning good). Together they name the things you love doing: a hobby or keen interest.
爱 — 爫 (claw) + 冖 (cover) + 心 (heart) + 夂 (slow walk)
Originally written 㤅, showing a heart 心 with breath above, depicting deep feeling. The modern form adds 夂 (a slow-walking foot) below, suggesting reluctance to leave a loved one. The traditional form 愛 keeps 心 inside; simplified 爱 drops the heart but retains the meaning 'love, cherish'.
好 — woman 女 + child 子
好 is an associative compound showing a woman 女 beside a child 子, depicting a mother with her baby. From this image of maternal affection it came to mean 'good, fine, pleasing.' The reading hǎo means 'good'; read hào it means 'to like.'