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视而不见 (shì ér bù jiàn) — to turn a blind eye to; to deliberately ignore (something one should notice)

Definition

A formal chengyu meaning 'to turn a blind eye to' — the subject deliberately ignores something clearly in view. It criticizes willful, not accidental, inattention.

idiom
to turn a blind eye toto deliberately ignore (something one should notice)

Examples

  • 视而不见，。
    Tā duì zhè xiē wèn tí shì ér bù jiàn, jiǎ zhuāng méi kàn jiàn.
    He turned a blind eye to these issues, pretending not to see them.
  • ，视而不见。
    Zuò wéi lǐng dǎo, bù néng duì yuán gōng de kùn nan shì ér bù jiàn.
    As a leader, you can't turn a blind eye to employees' difficulties.
  • 视而不见，。
    Tā duì zhōu wéi de biàn huà shì ér bù jiàn, zhǐ gù zì jǐ.
    He turned a blind eye to the changes around him, only caring about himself.

Origin

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 視; 视 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
見見jiànsee
Sound part声符shēngfú
示
示shì視shì
Same sound today

The story is about the traditional form 視: it combines 見, meaning see, with 示, which gives the sound shì.

Open 视 →

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

The shape of 而 is a picture of a beard.

Open 而 →

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

The picture in 不 originally showed a flower’s calyx; the “no” sense came later from a related character, not from this picture.

Open 不 →

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 見; 见 is its simplified writing.

  • 目目mùeye
  • 卩卩jiékneeling person

The traditional form 見 pairs 目 (eye) with 卩 (kneeling person), showing a kneeling figure with a large eye for a head. The simplified 见 is a later shorthand.

Open 见 →
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