p8nda
p8nda BETA
Home Dictionary Translate Flashcards

相看两不厌

相看兩不厭
xiāng kàn liǎng bú yàn
quotation

Meanings

  1. 1 looking at each other, neither tires of the other
  2. 2 two gazing on each other without growing weary
  3. 3 mutually looking, both not weary

Examples

HSK 4
老夫妻一生相看两不厌，真叫人羡慕。
Lǎo fūqī yìshēng xiāngkànliǎngbúyàn, zhēn jiào rén xiànmù.
An elderly couple who never tire of looking at each other - truly enviable.
HSK 7-9
他望着窗外的青山，颇有相看两不厌的意味。
Tā wàng zhe chuāngwài de qīngshān, pō yǒu xiāngkànliǎngbúyàn de yìwèi.
Gazing at the green hills outside, he felt that old sense of looking at something and never tiring of it.

Tips

history
From Li Bai's (李白) Tang-dynasty poem 《独坐敬亭山》 (Sitting Alone on Mount Jingting). Full couplet: 相看两不厌，只有敬亭山 - 'the one thing I never tire of looking at, and that never tires of me, is Mount Jingting.' After all his birds have flown and clouds have drifted off, only the mountain keeps him company.
usage
Used both for human relationships (lovers, old friends, long-married couples) and for landscapes or objects of deep attachment. The two 'both' (两) are the viewer and the viewed - each inexhaustible to the other.

Stroke Order

相 xiāng
看 kàn
两 liǎng
不 bù
厌 yàn