感（责任感）

• Pinyin: gǎn
• Hanzi breakdown: 感 = 咸 + 心 (feel/sense — heart radical indicates emotional meaning)

Meaning

-sense; -feeling; -awareness. A productive suffix attached to abstract nouns or adjectives to form compound nouns denoting a subjective sense or feeling.

Highly productive in modern Chinese. Common compounds: 责任感 (sense of responsibility), 自豪感 (sense of pride), 幸福感 (sense of happiness), 成就感 (sense of achievement), 安全感 (sense of security), 代入感 (sense of immersion). The pattern is typically: abstract concept + 感.

Examples

1. 她对工作始终怀有强烈的责任感，从不轻易推卸任何本应由自己承担的职责。 She has always had a strong sense of responsibility toward her work and never shirks duties that she should be taking on.
2. 这部电影精心设计了层层递进的悬疑情节，为观众营造出极强的代入感与紧迫感。 The film carefully builds suspense step by step, creating a strong sense of immersion and urgency for the audience.
3. 当他站在颁奖台上，内心涌现出一种难以言表的自豪感与成就感，多年的付出终于得到了认可。 As he stood on the awards stage, he felt an indescribable sense of pride and accomplishment—years of effort were finally recognized.

Usage Guide

Context: everyday, academic, psychological, social

Tone: neutral

Do Say

• 现代社会普遍存在安全感缺失的问题，许多人在人际关系中难以建立基本的信任感。(Modern society widely suffers from a lack of sense of security, and many people find it difficult to establish a basic sense of trust in interpersonal relationships.)
• 这款游戏凭借出色的画面和音效设计，给玩家带来了极强的沉浸感与真实感。(This game provides players with a strong sense of immersion and realism through its excellent visual and sound design.)

Don't Say

• 他有很多感 — 感 as a suffix must attach to a preceding noun or adjective; it cannot stand alone with a quantifier; say 他有很强的责任感 or 他的幸福感很强

Origin & History

感 = feel/sense (heart radical 心 + 咸 phonetic) — originally a full verb, grammaticalised as a nominalising suffix

Cultural Context

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal