What is Love?

The Chinese word for Love is Ai. If we study the word vertically, from top to bottom, it is made up of 4 minor character or parts:

1. The top minor character is zhua, meaning “grip”.


2. The second is “roof”.


3. The third is xin or “heart”.


4. The last character is you or “friendship”. Once we put all these into the context of an arranged marriage, which is the mode of marriage until the recent decades, the recipe for building a lasting and loving relationship is unraveled.

At the beginning of the marriage is a promise, represented by the minor character “grip”. The word grip shows deliberateness and solemnity of the promise of marriage. It also paints a picture of two people holding hands as they walk into their home, represented by the second minor character “roof”. Under the “roof”, we see the central character, the third character “heart”.

In each set of minor characters that forms a Chinese word, there is always a central character that is given the most weight in interpretation because it informs us of the essence of the whole word. In the word Ai, the minor character “heart ” is the central. This tells us that Love is a matter of the heart and it must be approached wholeheartedly. Finally, the foundation that supports the entire structure of Ai is the last and bottom minor character “friendship ”.

 

Source: Post on Chinese love character analysis