HSK Guide

àito love; to like, to be fond of; love, affection

ài (fourth tone, falling)

繁体:

to love; to like, to be fond of; love, affection

10 画部首 词频 #325

拼音

  • ài (fourth tone, falling)

to love; to like, to be fond of; love, affection

字形拆解

Ideographic description

⿳爫冖友The sequence reads left to right and describes how the parts are arranged.

Mnemonic

The traditional 愛 still holds its heart: a hand 爫 reaching down, a heart 心 under the cover, and 夂, a foot moving slowly, at the bottom — feeling carried step by step toward someone. The simplified 爱 writes 友 "friend" where the heart used to be, and that is the cleanest way to fix it: in 爱 the heart has become a friend.

A memory aid written by HSK Guide editors. It is not an etymology and does not describe the historical origin of the character.