催人泪下 (cuī rén lèi xià) — so moving that it brings tears to one's eyes; deeply touching

Definition

A four-character set phrase meaning 'moving enough to bring tears'. 催 means 'to urge/prompt' and 泪下 literally 'tears fall' — together they describe something (a story, scene, movie) that makes listeners cry from emotion.

verb
so moving that it brings tears to one's eyesdeeply touching

Examples

  • 催人泪下，。
    Zhè bù diàn yǐng de qíng jié cuī rén lèi xià, měi gè guān zhòng dōu kū le.
    The plot of this movie was so touching that every audience member cried.
  • 催人泪下，。
    Tā jiǎng le yí gè cuī rén lèi xià de gù shi, zài chǎng de rén wú bú dòng róng.
    He told a tear-jerking story, and everyone present was moved.
  • 催人泪下，。
    Zhè duàn lì shǐ cuī rén lèi xià, zhí dé wǒ men míng jì.
    This period of history is deeply moving and worth remembering.

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
亻Written in full as人rénperson
Sound part声符shēngfú
崔
崔cuī催cuī
Same sound today

催 combines 亻, the person part, with 崔, which gives the sound.

Open 催 →

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

The shape of 人 shows a side view of a standing person, with an arm and a leg.

Open 人 →

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 淚; 泪 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
水水shuǐ
Sound part声符shēngfú
戾
戾lì淚lèi
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 淚 uses 水 (water) and 戾 for sound; this describes 淚, not 泪.

Open 泪 →

An abstract idea shown by a mark or a diagram rather than by a picture of an object.

下 is drawn as a short horizontal line below a long curved line.

Open 下 →

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