粗心大意
cū xīn dà yì · HSK 7
careless
🤦 crude heart + big meaning — so sloppy the big stuff slips right through
粗 (crude/coarse) + 心 (heart/mind) + 大 (big) + 意 (meaning/intention). A coarse mind that only grabs the big picture and drops every detail — careless by construction.
粗 — rice 米 + crude/rough 且
A semantic-phonetic compound. The left 米 (rice) hints at the meaning, since unhulled or coarsely milled rice is rough and grainy. The right 且 supplies the sound. From 'coarse rice' the meaning extended to 'thick, rough, crude' in general.
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.
大 — pictograph of a person with arms outstretched
大 is a pictograph showing a person standing with arms and legs spread wide. The outstretched arms suggest 'big' or 'great', extending from the literal image of a large stance to abstract meanings like important or grand. It is one of the oldest characters, found on oracle bones.