一见钟情

Pronunciation: yī jiàn zhōng qíng Literal meaning: One glance, feelings concentrate

Origin & Usage

At a single (一) sight (见), the feeling (情) gathers (钟). 钟 is the interesting character. Simplified Chinese has merged two of them, and the one here is 鍾, a wine vessel whose extended sense is to gather or concentrate — not 鐘, the bell. So what is described is the whole of somebody's affection collecting on one object at once, which is more specific than attraction. It is used as English uses love at first sight, and it will also stretch to objects: a person can 一见钟情 with a house or a cat, which English cannot quite manage.

Examples

English: "He fell in love with her the moment he saw her."

Chinese: 他第一眼见到她就一见钟情。