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相思 (xiāng sī) — (noun) lovesickness; longing between lovers; (verb) to yearn for (a lover)

Definition

相思 names the emotion itself — the aching, romantic longing for an absent lover. As a verb, it means to pine for someone you love, and the object is always a romantic partner, not family or friends.

noun
lovesicknesslonging between lovers
verb
to yearn for (a lover)

Examples

  • 相思。
    Zhè shǒu shī biǎo dá le shī rén duì ài ren de xiāng sī.
    This poem expresses the poet's longing for his beloved.
  • 相思。
    Tā wèi yuǎn fāng de liàn rén ér xiāng sī.
    She pines for her distant lover.
  • 相思。
    xiāng sī Shì yì zhǒng tián mì de tòng kǔ.
    Lovesickness is a kind of sweet pain.

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.

相xiāngmutually
思sīthink/miss

The sense of 相 as mutually joins with 思 as think or miss to express lovers yearning for each other.

Characters in this word

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

In 相, 目 is an eye and 木 is a tree, showing an eye looking at a tree; this originally meant “to observe.”

Open 相 →

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
囟
囟xìn思sī
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

In 思, 心 (heart) points to thinking, while the top part is a changed form of 囟, which supplied the sound.

Open 思 →
Appears in
Emotions & FeelingsRomance & Marriage

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