Affairs of the Heart

There are many expressions in both English and Chinese that revolve around anatomy to describe emotions and personality traits, especially the heart. In Chinese, if you say someone has a big heart, it means that person is very ambitious and greedy. Having a wild heart means much the same. To cave in emotionally or to be oversensitive is to have a soft heart in Chinese, similar to English. Evil has a black heart, but a grey heart signifies dejection. To be a “die-hard” is to have an iron heart, and to be totally uncompromising is to have a dead heart. To feel sympathy or pity is to have a sore heart. To feel remorse, regret, or suffer emotional pain is to have a sour heart. To say someone is narrow-minded, the expression is that their heart’s eye is very small. Someone with a flowery heart is promiscuous. Finally, a good-hearted person is exactly that in Chinese, “hao xin ren”.

last modified Aug 14, 2004 at 4:38

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