拼音
- hěn (third tone, dipping)
very, quite, rather; (originally) to defy, to go against
字形拆解
Ideographic description
⿰彳艮The sequence reads left to right and describes how the parts are arranged.
- 彳meaning partno entry yetThe step radical: half of the crossroads 行. The original sense of the word was conduct — refusing to go along with someone.
- 艮sound partno entry yet艮 gèn for the sound; it is the same phonetic as in 跟, 眼, 银 and 恨.
Mnemonic
A step 彳 with 艮 for the sound. The word first meant to go against somebody — the sense still audible in its cousins 恨 to hate and 狠 ruthless — and was later worn down into the ordinary adverb of degree. Learn one structural fact with it: an adjective standing as a predicate needs a degree word, so 他很高 is the plain "he is tall", and 他高 on its own sounds like the start of a comparison.
A memory aid written by HSK Guide editors. It is not an etymology and does not describe the historical origin of the character.