The Chinese symbol for love — 爱 (ài)
爱 (ài) covers love in nearly every sense English uses it — romantic, familial, and the everyday 'loves doing something'. It is far more ordinary in Chinese than 'love' is in English: 爱看书 simply means someone likes reading.
At a glance
- Character
- 爱 full dictionary entry
- Pinyin
- ài
- Literal meaning
- To love; affection
- Dictionary senses
- Love (like) From the same dictionary as our translator.
- Traditional form
- 愛 Used in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau.
Stroke order
What 爱 means
Where the character comes from
The traditional 愛 has 心 (heart) at its centre, held under a 爪 hand with 夂 (a slow, dragging step) beneath — a hand cupping a heart, and a reluctance to leave. The simplified 爱 replaces that whole middle block with 友 (friend).
How it is actually used
我爱你 is 'I love you'. 爱情 is romantic love as a noun, 爱人 is a spouse in mainland usage, 可爱 is cute, 爱好 is a hobby, and 爱面子 means to care about saving face.
What 爱 does not mean
爱 on its own is a verb far more often than a noun. 'Love' as the noun in English usually needs 爱情 (romantic love) or 爱心 (loving-kindness, compassion). And it is not 'eternal love' or 'true love' — those are phrases, 永恒的爱 and 真爱.
Claims you will meet elsewhere
"The simplified 爱 removed the heart, so it means love without a heart."
This is the most repeated claim about any Chinese character, and it is rhetoric rather than etymology. The 友 shape comes from cursive forms of 愛 that were already centuries old when the simplification was standardised, and the same substitution was applied systematically to other characters. It is a real talking point in cultural and political argument; it is not what the character means to a reader.
"爱 is a strong word you use sparingly, like in English."
The opposite. Chinese uses 爱 for hobbies, foods and habits constantly. If anything, 我爱你 is said less often than 'I love you' while 爱 itself appears far more often.
For the general version of this problem — why a machine translation of a single word so often reads as confident nonsense — see Why AI Translators Guess.
The character in different scripts
简体
繁體
愛 (13 strokes) is standard in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau; 爱 (10 strokes) in mainland China and Singapore. Both are read ài and both mean exactly the same thing. Calligraphic and decorative renderings very often use 愛, because the traditional form is the one with the heart at its centre.
The words 爱 lives in
This is the part a symbol list leaves out, and it is the fastest way to feel what a character actually carries. Readings and meanings come from the same dictionary that powers the translator; tap any word for its full dictionary entry.
Other ways to say love
爱 is one answer, not the answer. Which of these is right depends on what you mean by "love" — and that is usually the question worth settling before anything is written down permanently.
Romantic love as a noun. If the English word is a noun, this is usually the right rendering.
The heart itself. Often what someone reaching for 爱 actually wants — and it is four strokes rather than ten.
Feeling and affection. 感情 is the bond between people, 深情 is deep feeling; this is love as an emotional tie rather than as an act.
爱 — frequently asked questions
What is the Chinese symbol for love?
爱 (ài) covers love in nearly every sense English uses it — romantic, familial, and the everyday 'loves doing something'. It is far more ordinary in Chinese than 'love' is in English: 爱看书 simply means someone likes reading. It is written 爱 and pronounced ài.
What does 爱 not mean?
爱 on its own is a verb far more often than a noun. 'Love' as the noun in English usually needs 爱情 (romantic love) or 爱心 (loving-kindness, compassion). And it is not 'eternal love' or 'true love' — those are phrases, 永恒的爱 and 真爱.
Is 爱 commonly mistranslated?
Yes. The claim you will meet most often is: "The simplified 爱 removed the heart, so it means love without a heart." This is the most repeated claim about any Chinese character, and it is rhetoric rather than etymology. The 友 shape comes from cursive forms of 愛 that were already centuries old when the simplification was standardised, and the same substitution was applied systematically to other characters. It is a real talking point in cultural and political argument; it is not what the character means to a reader. This page lists 2 such claims about 爱 with what is true instead.
Is 爱 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
愛 (13 strokes) is standard in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau; 爱 (10 strokes) in mainland China and Singapore. Both are read ài and both mean exactly the same thing. Calligraphic and decorative renderings very often use 愛, because the traditional form is the one with the heart at its centre.
What else can I use for love in Chinese?
Depending on what you mean: 爱情, 心, 情. This page explains when each one is the right choice, and 爱 itself lives in words such as 爱情, 爱人, 可爱.
Concepts that get confused with this one
Keep going
Check any wording of your own in the Chinese to English translator before it goes anywhere permanent, look 爱 up in full in the dictionary, learn the components it is built from in the Chinese Radicals guide, see it used in real sentences in the example sentence bank, or read Why AI Translators Guess for why single-word translation is the hardest kind.