美若天仙 (měi ruò tiān xiān) — as beautiful as a celestial fairy; extremely be…

Definition

A chengyu describing a woman whose beauty rivals a heavenly fairy — more literary and hyperbolic than 漂亮 or 美丽. Used almost exclusively for women.

idiom

as beautiful as a celestial fairyextremely beautiful (of a woman)

美若天仙，。
Tā cháng dé měi ruò tiān xiān, yì chū xiàn jiù xī yǐn le suǒ yǒu rén de mù guāng.
She is as beautiful as a celestial fairy; as soon as she appeared, she attracted everyone's attention.
美若天仙，。
Gǔ zhuāng jù lǐ de nǚ zhǔ jué měi ruò tiān xiān, ràng rén kàn le yí bù kāi yǎn jing.
The heroine in the costume drama is as beautiful as a celestial fairy, making it hard to look away.
美若天仙，，。
Tā suī rán bú shì měi ruò tiān xiān, dàn qì zhì yōu yǎ, hěn shòu huān yíng.
Although she is not as beautiful as a celestial fairy, her elegant demeanor makes her very popular.

Characters in this word

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

美 shows 大, a person, wearing 羊, a headdress of feathers or ram's horn.

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

若 began as a picture of a person combing their hair, associated with obedience.

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

Sound part声符shēngfú

丁

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The shape comes from a frontal standing man 大 with a head; 天 pairs 大 with 丁 for sound.

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

亻山仙

仙 pairs 亻 (person) with 山 (mountain), showing a person moving into a mountain to become immortal; 山 also gives the sound.