xuán

to hang or suspend

to worry; public announcement; unresolved; baseless; without foundation

Hanging (县) + heart (心) = suspended in worry

县 originally depicted something hanging — a head suspended from a tree — giving this character its core sense of suspension. When that hanging image meets the heart (心), the feeling of being left dangling, unresolved, or anxious follows naturally.

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An ancient depiction of something suspendedSemantic
HeartSemantic

那幅画在墙上已经很多年了。

nà fú huà xuán zài qiáng shàng yǐ jīng hěn duō nián le。

that painting has been hanging on the wall for many years already.

这件事还着,没有人知道结果。

zhè jiàn shì hái xuán zhe,méi yǒu rén zhī dào jié guǒ。

this matter is still unresolved, and no one knows the outcome.

Words with 悬

悬疑

xuán yí

suspense

磁悬浮

cí xuán fú

magnetic levitation (train)

附赘悬疣

fù zhuì xuán yóu

superfluous or useless appendages

头悬梁,锥刺股

tóu xuán liáng , zhuī cì gǔ

lit. with his head attached to a beam and stabbing his thigh with an awl (idiom)

中苏解决悬案大纲协定

zhōng sū jiě jué xuán àn dà gāng xié dìng

the treaty of 1923 normalizing relations between the Soviet Union and the Northern Warlord government of China

倒悬

dào xuán

lit. to hang upside down

倒悬之危

dào xuán zhī wēi

lit. the crisis of being hanged upside down (idiom); fig. extremely critical situation

倒悬之急

dào xuán zhī jí

lit. the crisis of being hanged upside down (idiom); fig. extremely critical situation

倒悬之苦

dào xuán zhī kǔ

lit. the pain of being hanged upside down (idiom); fig. extremely critical situation

口若悬河

kǒu ruò xuán hé

mouth like a torrent (idiom)

垂悬分词

chuí xuán fēn cí

dangling participle (grammar)

垂悬结构

chuí xuán jié gòu

dangling element (grammar)