恋

戀
liàn
verb #2,312

Meanings

  1. 1 to love
  2. 2 to long for
  3. 3 attached to

Examples

HSK 1
Tāmen zài liàn'ài.
They are in love.
HSK 4
Tā hěn liúliàn nàge dìfang.
She is very attached to that place.

Tips

usage
Common in 恋爱 (liàn'ài, romantic love) and 留恋 (liúliàn, reluctant to leave).

Components

radical
心 xīn
heart; mind
Bottom heart radical - the indexing component. Marks 恋 as a heart-state: love, attachment, longing, romantic affection. The whole compound says "heart bound up in something." Same heart-base anchors 想 (think of), 情 (feeling), 念 (miss), 怒 (anger), 忘 (forget).
phonetic
亦 yì
also (here phonetic shorthand)
Top 亦 - replaces the dense 䜌 phonetic of traditional 戀. Supplies the sound by simplification convention (the 1956 reform regularized many 䜌-tops down to 亦). The "also" meaning of 亦 has no semantic role here - pure cursive shorthand. Same simplification pattern in 变, 弯, 蛮, 湾.

Stroke Order

恋 liàn