面熟 (miàn shóu) — (adjective) familiar-looking (of a person); looking like someone you've met before

Definition

面熟 means a person's face looks familiar — you've seen them before but can't quite place them. Unlike 认识, it only covers the look, not actually knowing or remembering who they are.

adjective
familiar-looking (of a person)looking like someone you've met before

Examples

  • 面熟
    Zhè ge rén kàn zhe hěn miàn shóu, wǒ hǎo xiàng zài nǎ lǐ jiàn guò.
    This person looks very familiar — I seem to have seen them somewhere.
  • 面熟
    Suī rán jué de tā miàn shóu, dàn wǒ xiǎng bù qǐ tā de míng zì.
    Although I find him familiar, I can't remember his name.
  • 面熟
    Nà ge sī jī wǒ yì diǎn yě bú miàn shóu, yīng gāi bú shì cháng lái zhè lǐ de rén.
    That driver doesn't look familiar at all — he's probably not someone who comes here often.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
主谓zhǔwèiSubject + predicate

A small sentence frozen into a word: something, and what it does or is.

shúfamiliar

面 face and 熟 familiar combine to mean a face looks familiar.

Characters in this word

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

面 originally drew a man’s face, with one eye exaggerated; the horizontal stroke was added later.

Open 面 →

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

熟 combines 孰 (cooked; ripe) with 灬 (fire), showing food cooked with fire.

Open 熟 →
Appears in

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