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爱情 (ài qíng) — romantic love

Definition

爱情 (àiqíng) is the noun for romantic love as a feeling, not a person or relationship — use 恋爱 when meaning 'to be in love / a romance' (verb/noun).

noun
romantic love
Measure word · 份

Examples

  • 爱情。
    Tā men de ài qíng ràng rén gǎn dòng.
    Their love is touching.
  • 爱情。
    Yí fèn zhēn zhèng de ài qíng xū yào shí jiān.
    True love needs time.
  • 爱情。
    Tā zhǎo dào le zì jǐ de ài qíng.
    She found her own 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.

爱àilove
情qíngfeeling

爱 names love and 情 names feeling, together denoting romantic affection.

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 →

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
青
青qīng情qíng
Same sound today

情 shows 心 (heart) beside 青, which gives the sound. The heart part points to feelings and inner states.

Open 情 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 4HSK 2.0 Level 4Romance & Marriage2000 Most Frequent Chinese Words3000 Most Frequent Chinese Words5000 Most Frequent Chinese Words

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