The history behind 愛 is more layered than the popular “a heart walking” story. Bronze and seal forms ancestral to 愛 combine 心, “heart”, with a sound-bearing upper element; a foot or movement element was added as the written form developed. Scholars differ on some details, so this bronze-inspired sketch keeps the securely visible heart below rather than claiming one literal ancient scene. Simplified 爱 grew from long-used handwritten forms and omits the full 心 shape.
A piece of culture
The heart is still in the story Traditional 愛 visibly contains 心, “heart”; simplified 爱 does not. You may hear the joke that simplified Chinese made “love without a heart”, but that is modern wordplay, not the reason for the change: the simplified shape follows older cursive writing habits. In both scripts, 爱心 / 愛心 means a caring or compassionate heart: àixīn in Mandarin and oi3 sam1 in Cantonese.
Use it in a real word
爱心
àixīn · oi3 sam1
care; compassion — literally “loving heart”; you already know 心