Mao Collection, Upper Volume Radical: Heart (xīn) 耻 Kangxi stroke count: 10 Page 385, Entry 06 Pronounced chi (rising tone). Shuowen Jiezi (Explaining Graphs and Analyzing Characters): To humiliate. Composed of the heart radical and the sound component ear. Zhou Rites (Zhouli), Earth Office, Administrator of Corrections: To humiliate those placed on the fine stones. Commentary: To bring shame or humiliation upon them. Zuo Commentary (Zuozhuan), Year 5 of Duke Zhao: One cannot be without precautions when it comes to the shame of a commoner, let alone a state. Commentary: This means one cannot be humiliated. Guangyun (Broad Rhymes): To be ashamed. Mencius: A person cannot be without shame. Commentary: A person cannot be without a sense of shame. Sometimes also written in a variant form (chi). Six Books General Essential (Liushu Zongyao): Combining the heart and the ear. It captures the meaning of hearing one's own faults and feeling ashamed. Whenever a person feels shame in their heart, their ears and face turn red; this is the physical evidence of it. The popular form is erroneously written as the character with the ear component removed.