直教生死相许

直教生死相許

zhíjiàoshēngsǐxiāngxǔ

phrase

Meanings

1 (such love) compels life and death to be pledged to each other
2 (fig.) a love so profound that lovers vow to follow each other through life and death
3 (lit.) it makes life-and-death mutually promised

Characters

to make / cause (classical usage)

death (生死 = life and death)

Examples

这对情侣的故事，真让人感叹直教生死相许的痴情。

Zhè duì qínglǚ de gùshì, zhēn ràng rén gǎntàn zhíjiào shēngsǐ xiāngxǔ de chīqíng.

The couple's story makes one sigh at a devotion that 'makes life and death pledged to each other.'

小说结尾他们共赴黄泉，正是问世间情为何物，直教生死相许。

Xiǎoshuō jiéwěi tāmen gòng fù huángquán, zhèng shì wèn shìjiān qíng wéi hé wù, zhíjiào shēngsǐ xiāngxǔ.

At the novel's end they descend to the underworld together — truly, 'what in the world is love, that it makes life and death be pledged to each other?'

Tips

history

From 元好问《摸鱼儿·雁丘词》(Yuan Haowen, 'Mo Yu'er: Song of the Wild Goose Mound,' Jin dynasty, c. 1205 CE): 问世间，情是何物，直教生死相许？(I ask the world: what kind of thing is love, that it makes life and death be pledged to each other?) Yuan wrote it at 16, after a hunter told him a wild goose had killed itself seeing its mate shot down. Famously rephrased as 问世间情为何物 in the wuxia novel 《神雕侠侣》(The Return of the Condor Heroes) by Jin Yong.

usage

Almost exclusively quoted in the full couplet 问世间情为何物，直教生死相许. Reading: 教 here = jiào 'to cause / make,' not jiāo. Used for tragic devotion in romance, often half-tongue-in-cheek in modern chatter.

Stroke Order

直 zhí

教 jiāo

生 shēng

死 sǐ

相 xiāng

许 xǔ