善意

• Pinyin: shàn yì
• Hanzi breakdown: 善 = sheep + harmonious speech = good/virtuous; 意 = 心 (heart/mind radical) + 音 (sound/voice) = intention expressed from the heart — 善意 = a kind, benevolent intention

Meaning

Goodwill; kind or benevolent intention; a positive and charitable motivation behind words or actions.

Used in everyday speech: 出于善意 (out of goodwill), 误解善意 (misread good intentions). Important legal concept: 善意第三方 (bona fide third party), 善意取得 (good-faith acquisition of property). Also appears in diplomacy: 表达善意 (express goodwill). Antonym: 恶意 (malice, bad faith).

Examples

1. 她向邻居表达的批评出于善意，希望对方能够改正影响整栋楼日常生活的不良习惯，却未料到对方将其曲解为恶意中伤。 Her criticism of her neighbor was meant in goodwill—she hoped the neighbor would correct bad habits that affected daily life in the whole building—but she didn’t expect the neighbor to twist it into malicious slander.
2. 法律上的善意第三方原则保护了那些在不知情的情况下从无权处分人手中诚信取得财产的善意买受人，以维护交易安全。 In law, the doctrine protecting good-faith third parties safeguards those good-faith buyers who, without knowing, honestly acquire property from someone who lacks the authority to dispose of it, in order to maintain transactional security.
3. 两国外长在会谈结束后联合发表声明，强调双方均以充分的善意推进此次谈判，并表示愿在平等互尊的基础上继续深化合作。 After their talks, the two foreign ministers issued a joint statement emphasizing that both sides had advanced the negotiations with full goodwill and expressed willingness to deepen cooperation on the basis of equality and mutual respect.

Usage Guide

Context: interpersonal relations, law, diplomacy, ethics

Tone: positive

Do Say

• 无论对方最终是否接受，以善意出发的沟通本身就具有修复关系的价值，因为它传递出一种愿意理解和尊重对方的诚意。(Regardless of whether the other party ultimately accepts it, communication that starts from goodwill has inherent value in repairing relationships, because it conveys a genuine willingness to understand and respect the other person.)
• 按合同法的善意原则，买方并不知道也不应知道卖方无权处分该财产，其权益应受保护。(Under the good-faith principle of contract law, the buyer did not know and should not have known that the seller had no right to dispose of the property, so the buyer's rights should be protected.)

Don't Say

• 他带着善意的帮助了我 — 善意 is a noun, not an adverb; place it after a preposition: 他出于善意帮助了我; do not use 善意的 directly before a verb as an adverbial modifier

Origin & History

善 = good/kind/virtuous (see 善); 意 = 心 (heart/mind) + 音 (sound/voice) = what the heart intends to express = intention/meaning — 善意 = the intention of the heart that is good

Cultural Context

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal