惺惺惜惺惺 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

xīng intelligent

A brilliant 星 mind 忄; 星 also provides the pronunciation

xin, xīn heart

xīng a star

	Old Chinese
Zhengzhang	seŋʔ
	seːŋ

Phonosemantic compound. 忄 represents the meaning and 昔 represents the sound.

忄 Meaning component

xin, xīn heart

昔 Sound component

xī, cuò in the past, ancient times

Regular Modern

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	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	sjek	[s]Ak	regret; alas

《說文》：“惜，痛也。从心，昔聲。”