只见 meaning in English
to see (the same thing) over and over again; to see, to one's surprise, (sth happen suddenly)
Meaning of 只见
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- to see (the same thing) over and over again
- to see, to one's surprise, (sth happen suddenly)
How to use 只见
只见 is a narrative word, common in stories, novels and descriptive writing. It comes at the start of a clause to introduce what someone suddenly sees, often after an action like opening a door. Example: 他推开门，只见屋里一个人也没有。(Tā tuīkāi mén, zhǐjiàn wū lǐ yí gè rén yě méiyǒu.) He pushed the door open and saw that there was nobody in the room.
只 (zhǐ) means "only" and 见 (jiàn) means "to see." Picture a scene where suddenly you "only see" one striking thing, so 只见 introduces what catches your eye.
Common mistake: Learners often read 只见 as "only saw" and translate it literally, but it usually just means "and there you could see" without stressing "only." Also do not use it like 看见 (kànjiàn) in casual speech, for example 我只见了他 sounds wrong; say 我看见了他.
只见 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Stroke order for each character
Open a character for its meaning, components and more words.
只 zhǐ · only · 5 strokes
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
见 jiàn · to see · 4 strokes
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
Related words
Words that share a character with 只见.
| 再见 | zàijiàn | goodbye; see you again later |
| 看见 | kànjiàn | to see; to catch sight of |
| 听见 | tīngjiàn | to hear |
| 见面 | jiànmiàn | to meet; to see each other |
| 只要 | zhǐyào | so long as; provided; if |
| 见到 | jiàndào | to see |
| 只能 | zhǐ néng | can only; obliged to do sth |
| 意见 | yìjiàn | idea; opinion |
| 见过 | jiànguo | |
| 常见 | cháng jiàn | commonly seen; common |
| 碰见 | pèngjiàn | to run into; to meet (unexpectedly) |
| 只是 | zhǐshì | merely; only; just; nothing but; simply |
Questions about 只见
What does 只见 mean?
只见 (zhǐ jiàn) means "to see (the same thing) over and over again; to see, to one's surprise, (sth happen suddenly)".
How do you write 只见?
只见 is made of 2 characters: 只 (5 strokes), 见 (4 strokes). That is 9 strokes in total.
Is 只见 an HSK word?
Yes. 只见 is on the HSK 5 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
How is 只见 written in traditional Chinese?
In traditional characters, 只见 is written 只見.
Does 只见 need a subject in front of it?
Often no. In stories the subject is understood from context, so the sentence can simply begin with 只见 followed by what is seen. The seer is usually the character just mentioned or the narrator.
What is the difference between 只见 and 只看见?
只看见 (zhǐ kànjiàn) is a normal phrase meaning "only saw," with real focus on "only." 只见 works as a fixed literary expression for introducing a sudden sight, and the sense of "only" is mostly gone.