痴情 (chī qíng) — deep, unreasoning devotion or infatuation (often unrequited)

Definition

痴情 names a deep, often one-sided devotion to someone — a single, all-consuming feeling rather than ordinary love. Often used in literary or emotional contexts to describe infatuation that is blind to reality.

noun
deep, unreasoning devotion or infatuation (often unrequited)

Examples

  • 痴情。
    Tā duì tā de chī qíng ràng wǒ hěn gǎn dòng.
    His infatuation with her really moved me.
  • 痴情。
    Tā de chī qíng zuì zhōng méi yǒu huàn lái huí bào.
    His deep devotion never got any return in the end.
  • 痴情。
    Zhè bù xiǎo shuō jiǎng de shì yí gè nián qīng rén de chī qíng gù shi.
    This novel tells the story of a young person's infatuation.

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.

痴chīinfatuated
情qíngfeeling

痴 describes an irrational, devoted state, and 情 names feeling; together they mean infatuated passion.

Characters in this word

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 痴 →

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 →

Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.