惊喜

Étymologie et composants

The Chinese word 惊喜 (jīng xǐ) is a compound word consisting of two characters: 惊 (jīng) and 喜 (xǐ). The character 惊 originally meant "to be startled or shocked", and it is composed of the radical 心 (xīn), which represents the heart, and the phonetic component 京 (jīng). The character 喜 originally meant "to be happy or joyful", and it is composed of the radical 口 (kǒu), which represents the mouth, and the phonetic component 喜 (xǐ). When these two characters are combined to form 惊喜, the meaning changes to "surprise" or "unexpected joy". This is because the combination of the two characters suggests the idea of being startled or shocked by something that is also joyful or pleasant.