一见钟情 (yī jiàn zhōng qíng) — to fall in love at first sight; love at first s…

Definition

A chengyu meaning 'love at first sight' — falling in love the moment you see someone. Often used as both the verb phrase (fall in love at first sight) and the noun phrase (love at first sight itself).

idiom

to fall in love at first sightlove at first sight

Examples

一见钟情。
Tā men dì yī cì jiàn miàn jiù yī jiàn zhōng qíng le.
They fell in love at first sight when they first met.
一见钟情。
Tā duì nà ge nán hái yī jiàn zhōng qíng.
She fell in love at first sight with that boy.
一见钟情。
Hěn duō diàn yǐng dōu jiǎng yī jiàn zhōng qíng de gù shi.
Many movies tell stories of love at first sight.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

一见seeing once

一yīone见jiànsee

偏正Modifier + head

钟情concentrating feeling

钟zhōngconcentrate情qíngfeeling

动宾Verb + object

一见 gives seeing once, and 钟情 gives concentrating feeling, together naming love at first sight.

Characters in this word

An abstract idea shown by a mark or a diagram rather than by a picture of an object.

一 is drawn as one horizontal stroke, marking the number one.

Open 一 →

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 見; 见 is its simplified writing.

目目mùeye
卩卩jiékneeling person

The traditional form 見 pairs 目 (eye) with 卩 (kneeling person), showing a kneeling figure with a large eye for a head. The simplified 见 is a later shorthand.

Open 见 →

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 钟 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

心心xīnheart

Sound part声符shēngfú

青

青qīng情qíng

Same sound today

情 shows 心 (heart) beside 青, which gives the sound. The heart part points to feelings and inner states.

Open 情 →