见 (jiàn): to see; to catch sight of

Meanings

1 to see; to catch sight of
2 to meet; to call on
3 to be exposed to; to come into contact with
4 opinion; view

Examples

明天见！

Míngtiān jiàn!

See you tomorrow!

很高兴见到你。

Hěn gāoxìng jiàndào nǐ.

Nice to meet you.

你对这件事有什么见解？

Nǐ duì zhè jiàn shì yǒu shénme jiànjiě?

What's your view on this matter?

Tips

usage

Three big jobs in modern Chinese: (1) farewell tag — 再见, 明天见, 回头见; (2) result complement after sensory verbs — 看见 (saw), 听见 (heard), 梦见 (dreamt of); (3) the noun 'opinion / view' in 意见, 见解, 高见.

memory

The character is its own picture clue: an enormous eye 目 riding on a pair of legs — a person whose head has become all eye, walking around looking. Once you see the eye-on-legs, you'll always recognise 见 and its descendants 观, 觉, 览.

Components

pictograph

见 jiàn

to see; to meet

Pictograph of a person with an enlarged eye on top — a stick figure where the head is replaced by a giant eye. The simplified form keeps the picture: the upper rectangle (originally 目, now flattened) sits on a pair of legs below. 见 is its own Kangxi radical (#147) and anchors 观, 觉, 览. Simplified from the traditional form, which kept the eye on a full pair of legs.

Radical

See Kangxi #147

The 'see' radical. A compound ideograph of 目 (eye) over 人 (person), simplified from traditional 見 — a person with the eye prominently raised. Modestly productive, indexing characters of vision and perception: 观 (observe), 觉 (perceive), 览 (view), 视 (look at, although 视 is filed under 礻).