TongTong
Sign in

瞎眼 (xiā yǎn) — to go blind; to lose one's sight; (figurative) to be blind to; to fail to see or misjudge

Definition

Literally 'to go blind / lose one's sight', also used figuratively for being 'blind to' a situation (e.g. 瞎了眼, 'was blind to think that'). More dramatic and less neutral than 看不见, which simply means 'cannot see'.

verb
to go blindto lose one's sight(figurative) to be blind toto fail to see or misjudge

Examples

  • ，。
    Tā xiā le yì zhī yǎn, dàn shēng huó réng rán hěn jī jí.
    He lost one eye, but he still lives actively.
  • ，。
    Tā zhēn shì xiā le yǎn, cái huì xiāng xìn nà zhǒng rén.
    He was truly blind to believe that kind of person.
  • 。
    Tā yīn wèi jí bìng xiā yǎn le.
    He went blind from illness.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
主谓zhǔwèiSubject + predicate

A small sentence frozen into a word: something, and what it does or is.

瞎xiāblind
眼yǎneye

The sense comes from 眼 being 瞎, so the eyes cannot see or see things wrongly.

Characters in this word

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 瞎 →

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
目目mùeye
Sound part声符shēngfú
艮
艮gèn眼yǎn
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

眼 combines 目, which is an eye, with 艮, which gives the character's sound.

Open 眼 →
Appears in
Injury & Disability

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