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爱上 (ài shàng) — fall in love with

Definition

verb
fall in love with

Examples

  • 爱上。
    Tā ài shàng le nà ge nǚ hái.
    He fell in love with that girl.
  • 爱上。
    Wǒ màn màn dì ài shàng le zhè zuò chéng shì.
    I gradually fell in love with this city.
  • 爱上。
    Tā ài shàng le tán gāng qín.
    She fell in love with playing the piano.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
补充bǔchōngVerb + complement

An action followed by its result or direction.

爱àilove
上shàngattainment

“爱” (love) plus “上” (attainment) expresses coming to love someone.

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.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 愛; 爱 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
心心xīnheart
Sound part声符shēngfú
旡
旡jì愛ài
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

For the traditional form 愛, an older shape paired 心 (heart) with 旡 as its sound part; later a foot-like 夊 was added below. The simplified 爱 is a later variant that replaces the lower part with 友.

Open 爱 →

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

上 is drawn as a short horizontal line placed above a longer arc, marking a position above that arc.

Open 上 →
Appears in
Romance & Marriage2000 Most Frequent Chinese Words3000 Most Frequent Chinese Words5000 Most Frequent Chinese Words

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