Origin

This character pairs the heart radical on the right, which represents emotions and internal feelings, with the ear radical on the left that acts as a sound hint for pronunciation. The combination makes sense because shame is an emotional feeling that arises from being exposed or heard about — your internal sense of dishonor relates to how others perceive you. The ear component doesn't literally mean "ear" in this character; it's there mainly to suggest the sound of the word, while the heart component carries the core meaning of an internal emotional state.

AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Phono-semantic (meaning + sound hint).