📖 Meaning
This idiom describes having a heart of compassion and sympathy toward others in distress. It refers to the natural feeling of pity and concern one should experience when witnessing another person's suffering. It is synonymous with the more common idiom 恻隐之心.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom originates from the work Fu Zi (《苻子》) by Fu Lang of the Jin Dynasty (晋朝苻郎). The original text describes someone watching executions and treating the spectacle as entertainment, then asking how such a person could be utterly devoid of compassion. The phrase criticizes callousness and indifference to human suffering. It reflects the Confucian ideal that a humane person should feel empathy and sorrow when others are in pain.
💡 Example Usage
看到灾民受苦，他不禁生出恻怛之心，决定捐款相助。
Seeing the disaster victims suffer, he could not help but feel compassion and decided to donate to help them.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 恻怛之心
- Pinyin: cè dá zhī xīn
- Literal Translation: sorrowful, grieved, possessive, heart
- Category: Emotion
- Characters: 4