卿卿我我
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Chinese[edit]
(old) minister; (old) term of endearment between spouses; thou (poet.) | (old) minister; (old) term of endearment between spouses; thou (poet.) | I; me | I; me | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
simp. and trad. (卿卿我我) |
卿 | 卿 | 我 | 我 |
Etymology[edit]
The chengyu, or at least the reduplication of 卿 (MC khjaeng) in it, appears to be influenced by a story in the A New Account of the Tales of the World. Wang Rong, one of the Seven Sages (竹林七賢), felt discomfited by his wife calling him 卿 (MC khjaeng), a second-person term of endearment then typically used by the man to refer to the woman (i.e. men's speech). The wife, in retort, famously said
- 親卿愛卿,是以卿卿;我不卿卿,誰當卿卿? [Literary Chinese, trad.]
- From: Liu Yiqing (editor), A New Account of the Tales of the World, 5th century CE
- Qīn qīng ài qīng, shìyǐ qīng qīng; wǒ bù qīng qīng, shéi dāng qīng qīng? [Pinyin]
- I endear my dear and love my dear, and that's why I call my dear "my dear". If I were not to call my dear "my dear", who else is supposed to call my dear "my dear"?
亲卿爱卿,是以卿卿;我不卿卿,谁当卿卿? [Literary Chinese, simp.]
Here in the construct 卿卿, the first 卿 is used by conversion (or anthimeria) as a verb that means "to call someone by 卿", which was idiomatic due to the high degree of elasticity of the Chinese language.
Pronunciation[edit]
Idiom[edit]
卿卿我我