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心

This character is read as “심.” It carries meanings like “heart, mind, thought, or center.” It was originally a pictograph of the physical heart, though it didn’t always look like this.

Over time, the meaning expanded from the physical organ to the abstract “mind.” And since the heart is so central to our bodies, it also came to mean the “core” or “center” of things.

Because it’s so fundamental, it’s used to build many other characters. Depending on its position, it can be simplified like this (忄) or like this (㣺).

Let’s look at some essential words using 心 (심).

• 심장 (心臟) heart
• 관심 (關心) interest, attention
• 중심 (中心) center
• 진심 (眞心) truth, sincerity
• 양심 (良心) conscience
• 핵심 (核心) key, core
• 심리 (心理) mentality
• 인심 (人心) the minds of individuals
• 사심 (私心) ulterior motive, self-interest
• 심술 (心術) bad temper, perversity, cantankerousness
• 욕심 (慾心/欲心) desire, greed
• 점심 (點心) lunch 

Interestingly, “점심” was originally a Buddhist term. It meant a small meal eaten to lightly touch the mind when hungry. Now it just means the meal between breakfast and dinner—which is right in the middle!

Here are some more:

• 호기심 (好奇心) curiosity, inquisitiveness
• 인내심 (忍耐心) patience, endurance
• 노파심 (老婆心) excessive solicitude
• 자존심 (自尊心) pride, self-respect
• 열심히 (熱心-) hard, diligently, zealously
• 조심하다 (操心-) to practice caution
• 의심하다 (疑心-) to doubt
• 안심하다 (安心-) to feel easy
• 방심하다 (放心-) by careless, to be sloppy
• 결심하다 (決心-) to determine, to resolve
• 변심하다 (變心-) to change one’s mind
• 합심하다 (合心-) to unite, to pull together, to cooperate
• 고심하다 (苦心-) to take pains, to rack one’s brains