相见恨晚

Pronunciation: xiāng jiàn hèn wǎn Literal meaning: Meeting each other regret it was late

Origin & Usage

Emperor Wu of Han, meeting three men whose memorials had impressed him, is recorded as saying 何相见之晚也 — how late our meeting has been. The idiom compresses it: to meet (相见) and to resent (恨) the lateness (晚). 恨 is stronger than English regret and closer to a grievance, which is the flavour — the time before the meeting is being counted as a loss. Discovering an unexpected affinity is the occasion, and it is one of the warmer things one adult can say to another on first acquaintance.

Examples

English: "The two researchers wished they had met years earlier."

Chinese: 两位研究者相见恨晚，希望能更早相识。