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直视 (zhí shì) — to look directly at; to face (a situation) squarely

Definition

直视 means to look straight at something, often with the courage to face it. It is more neutral and concrete than 注视 and 凝视 (attentive gazing), and overlaps with 正视 when used figuratively for facing a problem squarely.

verb
to look directly atto face (a situation) squarely
Easily confused

Examples

  • 直视。
    Tā gǔ qǐ yǒng qì zhí shì jìng tóu.
    She summoned up the courage to look directly at the camera.
  • 直视。
    Wǒ men bì xū zhí shì zì jǐ de cuò wù.
    We must face our own mistakes squarely.
  • 直视。
    Tā bù gǎn zhí shì duì fāng de yǎn jing.
    He didn't dare to look the other person in the eyes.

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.

直zhístraight
视shìlook

直视 joins 直 (straight) with 视 (look), giving the sense of looking directly.

Characters in this word

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

The earliest form of 直 pairs 目, an eye, with an unclear stroke 丨.

Open 直 →

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 視; 视 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
見見jiànsee
Sound part声符shēngfú
示
示shì視shì
Same sound today

The story is about the traditional form 視: it combines 見, meaning see, with 示, which gives the sound shì.

Open 视 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9Senses

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