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How to differentiate moods, characters, temperaments, etc?

Chinese Language Asked by aelephant on October 23, 2021

It seems like there are way more words for these things than in English, and I am having a hard time figuring out the difference between them. Some adjectives can only be used to describe mood, while some can be used to describe character or temperament. I’m not even too clear how they differ.

心境: state of mind, mental state, mood

心气: mood, frame of mind

心情: frame of mind, mood

心思: state of mind, mood

脾气: temperament, disposition

气性: temperament, disposition

心性: disposition, temperament

性格: nature, disposition, temperament

性气: temper, temperament, character

性情: disposition, temperament, temper

What are the differences between these words? What adjectives may be used to describe which?

2 Answers

Those terms can be divided into two groups:

First group, temporary, like mood: 心境, 心情. Those two are close to each other. 心情 is more temporary, can be changed in a second. 心境 is more stable and broad, but it can still be changed by big event.

For example, if you say:

I am happy today. This is a kind of 心情.

I am happy the whole month. This is a kind of 心境.

Obviously, if you are happy in a month, you are happy almost everyday in that month, so most of the time 心情 reflects 心境. But it is not always true, you can have an unhappy day in a happy month.

Second group, stable, like character: 脾气, 性格, 性情. Those three are very close to each other, the difference is very subtitle.

Well, I left 心思 (ideas, thoughts), because it's totally different from the above. I also left 气性, 心性, 性气, 心气, because they are rarely used nowadays.

Answered by Feng Jiang on October 23, 2021

Hmm, perhaps you're trying too hard, think of synonyms. This list resembles something of a thesaurus entry. In certain situations, you can substitute one for the other, while in a different context, you can't substitute the words, and you would know when to use the correct one from experience while conversing in Chinese.

This is the best way I can explain it: think about the following two words in English: sever and cut. We can say, "sever/cut ties", "sever/cut the rope", but while we can say "let's sever up the steak into little bits", it's much more comfortable to say "let's cut up the steak into little bits". It would be tiring to compare the above words in 90 combinations, but you get the idea.

Answered by sCeege on October 23, 2021

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