忧心忡忡

yōu xīn chōng chōng

deeply worried; weighed down with anxiety

Character by character

忧yōu
worried

心xīn
heart

忡chōng
uneasy

等检查结果的那几天，母亲一直忧心忡忡，饭也吃不下。

In the days of waiting for the test results my mother was sick with worry and could not eat.

Tone: neutral.

From the Book of Songs (《诗经·召南·草虫》: 未见君子，忧心忡忡). 忡 is chōng, not zhōng. Describes a lasting state, often 显得忧心忡忡 or 对…忧心忡忡; the opposite is 无忧无虑.

Learn this in Lesson 156 · HSK 7–9: 与癌共存 (Living with cancer)

A dialogue, a reading, word cards with audio and a drill that uses it, in Learn Chinese with Bao. This lesson is free.