眼中 (yǎn zhōng) — in (someone's) eyes; in (someone's) view (figurative, expressing opinion or perspective)

Definition

A literary way to say 'in someone's eyes' — the perspective, opinion, or judgment of a person or group. Note that as a noun it must follow a person (老师眼中) or 在 + person; not used for physical sight.

noun
in (someone's) eyesin (someone's) view (figurative, expressing opinion or perspective)

Examples

  • 眼中，。
    Zài lǎo shī yǎn zhōng, měi gè xué shēng dōu shì píng děng de.
    In the teacher's eyes, every student is equal.
  • 眼中，。
    Tā yǎn zhōng zhǐ yǒu gōng zuò, méi yǒu bié de.
    In his eyes, there is only work, nothing else.
  • 眼中。
    Zhè jiàn shì zài dà jiā yǎn zhōng bìng bú zhòng yào.
    This matter is not important in everyone's eyes.

Origin

Characters in this word

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
目目mùeye
Sound part声符shēngfú
艮
艮gèn眼yǎn
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

眼 combines 目, which is an eye, with 艮, which gives the character's sound.

Open 眼 →

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

The original picture showed a flagpole with a drum in the middle, set up in the center of a field.

Open 中 →

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