愁

Etymology & Components

The Chinese character 愁 (chóu) for "worry" or "sorrow" is composed of two parts: the radical 心 (xīn) for "heart" on the left, and the phonetic component 秋 (qiū) on the right. The radical 心 indicates that the character is related to emotions or mental states, while the phonetic component 秋 provides a clue to its pronunciation. The character 秋 originally meant "autumn," and its pronunciation is similar to the word 愁. Over time, the character 愁 came to be used to represent the feeling of sadness or worry, likely due to the association between autumn and the onset of colder weather and shorter days. The combination of the radical 心 and the phonetic component 秋 creates a character that visually and phonetically represents the concept of worry or sorrow.