单相思 (dān xiāng sī) — unrequited love, one-sided love

Definition

noun
unrequited loveone-sided love

Examples

  • 单相思。
    Tā yì zhí zài rěn shòu dān xiāng sī de tòng kǔ.
    He has been suffering from the pain of unrequited love.
  • 单相思。
    dān xiāng sī Ràng tā biàn de hěn xiāo chén.
    Unrequited love made him very depressed.
  • 单相思。
    Tā zhōng yú cóng dān xiāng sī zhōng zǒu chū lái le.
    She finally got over her one-sided love.

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.

单dānone-sided
相思lovesickness
相xiāngmutual思sīlonging
偏正Modifier + head

单 (one-sided) and 相思 (lovesickness) combine to mean unrequited love.

Characters in this word

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 單; 单 is its simplified writing.

The form 單 originally pictured a Y-shaped wooden stick with two stones on top.

Open 单 →

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 →

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