What is an English equivalent of the Chinese noun 心眼?
Looking for an English equivalent of the Chinese noun 心眼 if there is any, or the best way to describe it.
If someones has 心眼, then you can say they are sly.
But, what do they have if they are sly?
To try and describe the word's meaning, it is a noun that means something like figurative 'brains', 'sneaky' or 'trickery'. If someone is said to have bad 心眼, it means they can think up trickery and be evil to deliberately sabotage someone, or at least to work a situation to their advantage/avoid being disadvantaged. 心眼 on it's own doesn't necessarily have to be evil, it can also be to protect oneself. For example:
Say you are going to a party out of necessity but you don't really want to go. In Chinese, if you had 'a little 心眼'(多一点心眼), you can say you still have things to do, and leave early.
An example of bad 心眼 could be where a person deliberately runs late when they need to give another person a ride, or fixing a deck of cards before a game so that when it is dealt, specific cards to to a specific person.
If a person has no 心眼, it means they are too naive and easy to take advantage of. In English, you can say they have no brains.
What I want to do is, rather than having to say "A person is sly" in the nominative case, I want to say "A person has no ___" in the accusative case (I believe they are in the right cases, please correct if this is wrong).
single-word-requests
asked 16 mins ago
Stephanie Chen-XuStephanie Chen-Xu
62
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add a comment |
Looking for an English equivalent of the Chinese noun 心眼 if there is any, or the best way to describe it.
If someones has 心眼, then you can say they are sly.
But, what do they have if they are sly?
To try and describe the word's meaning, it is a noun that means something like figurative 'brains', 'sneaky' or 'trickery'. If someone is said to have bad 心眼, it means they can think up trickery and be evil to deliberately sabotage someone, or at least to work a situation to their advantage/avoid being disadvantaged. 心眼 on it's own doesn't necessarily have to be evil, it can also be to protect oneself. For example:
Say you are going to a party out of necessity but you don't really want to go. In Chinese, if you had 'a little 心眼'(多一点心眼), you can say you still have things to do, and leave early.
An example of bad 心眼 could be where a person deliberately runs late when they need to give another person a ride, or fixing a deck of cards before a game so that when it is dealt, specific cards to to a specific person.
If a person has no 心眼, it means they are too naive and easy to take advantage of. In English, you can say they have no brains.
What I want to do is, rather than having to say "A person is sly" in the nominative case, I want to say "A person has no ___" in the accusative case (I believe they are in the right cases, please correct if this is wrong).
single-word-requests
asked 16 mins ago
Stephanie Chen-XuStephanie Chen-Xu
62
New contributor
Stephanie Chen-Xu is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
add a comment |
Looking for an English equivalent of the Chinese noun 心眼 if there is any, or the best way to describe it.
If someones has 心眼, then you can say they are sly.
But, what do they have if they are sly?
To try and describe the word's meaning, it is a noun that means something like figurative 'brains', 'sneaky' or 'trickery'. If someone is said to have bad 心眼, it means they can think up trickery and be evil to deliberately sabotage someone, or at least to work a situation to their advantage/avoid being disadvantaged. 心眼 on it's own doesn't necessarily have to be evil, it can also be to protect oneself. For example:
Say you are going to a party out of necessity but you don't really want to go. In Chinese, if you had 'a little 心眼'(多一点心眼), you can say you still have things to do, and leave early.
An example of bad 心眼 could be where a person deliberately runs late when they need to give another person a ride, or fixing a deck of cards before a game so that when it is dealt, specific cards to to a specific person.
If a person has no 心眼, it means they are too naive and easy to take advantage of. In English, you can say they have no brains.
What I want to do is, rather than having to say "A person is sly" in the nominative case, I want to say "A person has no ___" in the accusative case (I believe they are in the right cases, please correct if this is wrong).
single-word-requests
asked 16 mins ago
Stephanie Chen-XuStephanie Chen-Xu
62
New contributor
Stephanie Chen-Xu is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
Looking for an English equivalent of the Chinese noun 心眼 if there is any, or the best way to describe it.
If someones has 心眼, then you can say they are sly.
But, what do they have if they are sly?
To try and describe the word's meaning, it is a noun that means something like figurative 'brains', 'sneaky' or 'trickery'. If someone is said to have bad 心眼, it means they can think up trickery and be evil to deliberately sabotage someone, or at least to work a situation to their advantage/avoid being disadvantaged. 心眼 on it's own doesn't necessarily have to be evil, it can also be to protect oneself. For example:
Say you are going to a party out of necessity but you don't really want to go. In Chinese, if you had 'a little 心眼'(多一点心眼), you can say you still have things to do, and leave early.
An example of bad 心眼 could be where a person deliberately runs late when they need to give another person a ride, or fixing a deck of cards before a game so that when it is dealt, specific cards to to a specific person.
If a person has no 心眼, it means they are too naive and easy to take advantage of. In English, you can say they have no brains.
What I want to do is, rather than having to say "A person is sly" in the nominative case, I want to say "A person has no ___" in the accusative case (I believe they are in the right cases, please correct if this is wrong).
single-word-requests
single-word-requests
asked 16 mins ago
Stephanie Chen-XuStephanie Chen-Xu
62
New contributor
Stephanie Chen-Xu is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
asked 16 mins ago
Stephanie Chen-XuStephanie Chen-Xu
62
New contributor
Stephanie Chen-Xu is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
asked 16 mins ago
Stephanie Chen-XuStephanie Chen-Xu
62
New contributor
Stephanie Chen-Xu is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
asked 16 mins ago
Stephanie Chen-XuStephanie Chen-Xu
62
asked 16 mins ago
Stephanie Chen-XuStephanie Chen-Xu
62
62
New contributor
Stephanie Chen-Xu is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
New contributor
Stephanie Chen-Xu is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
Stephanie Chen-Xu is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
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