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心仪 (xīn yí) — to secretly admire; to have a crush on (someone) in one's heart

Definition

心仪 means to quietly admire or have a secret crush on someone, kept in the heart rather than spoken. It is more literary and emotional than ordinary 喜欢, and usually not used for things you merely like.

verb
to secretly admireto have a crush on (someone) in one's heart

Examples

  • 心仪。
    Tā yì zhí xīn yí nà wèi zuò jiā.
    She has always secretly admired that writer.
  • 心仪。
    Wǒ xīn zhōng xīn yí yǐ jiǔ de nà ge rén zhōng yú chū xiàn le.
    The person I've secretly admired for a long time finally appeared.
  • 心仪。
    Tā cháng zài xīn lǐ xīn yí nà wèi yōu yǎ de nǚ shì.
    He often secretly admires that elegant lady in his heart.

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.

心xīnheart
仪yíadmire

心 gives the inward feeling, and 仪 gives the act of admiring.

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The shape of 心 comes from a drawing of a heart, now highly stylized.

Open 心 →

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 儀; 仪 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
亻Written in full as人rén
Sound part声符shēngfú
義
義yì儀yí
Same sound today

In the traditional form 儀, the left part 亻 shows a person, and the right part 義 supplies the sound. This description is about 儀, not the simplified 仪.

Open 仪 →
Appears in
Romance & Marriage

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