Meaning of 看见
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- to see; to catch sight of
How to use 看见
看见 describes successfully seeing something, not just the act of looking. It is common in everyday speech, and the negative is usually 没看见 (méi kànjiàn). Example: 我看见他了。 (Wǒ kànjiàn tā le.) I saw him.
看 (kàn) shows a hand 手 held over an eye 目, like shading your eyes to look into the distance. Add 见 (jiàn), which means to perceive, and you get the result: you looked and actually saw it.
Common mistake: Learners often use 看 when they mean 看见. 看 (kàn) is to look or watch, while 看见 means the seeing actually happened. So say 我没看见 (wǒ méi kànjiàn) for "I didn't see it," not 我不看见.
看见 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.
看 kàn · to see · 9 strokes
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
见 jiàn · to see · 4 strokes
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
Related words
Words that share a character with 看见.
| 看到 | kàndào | to see |
| 再见 | zàijiàn | goodbye; see you again later |
| 听见 | tīngjiàn | to hear |
| 见面 | jiànmiàn | to meet; to see each other |
| 好看 | hǎokàn | good-looking; nice-looking; (of a movie, book, TV show etc) good |
| 看病 | kànbìng | to visit a doctor; to see a patient |
| 见到 | jiàndào | to see |
| 意见 | yìjiàn | idea; opinion |
| 见过 | jiànguo | |
| 看法 | kànfǎ | way of looking at a thing; view |
| 难看 | nánkàn | ugly; unsightly |
| 常见 | cháng jiàn | commonly seen; common |
Questions about 看见
What does 看见 mean?
看见 (kànjiàn) means "to see; to catch sight of".
How do you write 看见?
看见 is made of 2 characters: 看 (9 strokes), 见 (4 strokes). That is 13 strokes in total.
Is 看见 an HSK word?
Yes. 看见 is on the HSK 1 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
How is 看见 written in traditional Chinese?
In traditional characters, 看见 is written 看見.
What is the difference between 看见 and 看到?
They mean almost the same thing: to see or catch sight of something. 看到 (kàndào) is slightly more common in writing and can also mean to notice or reach a point when reading. In casual speech they are usually interchangeable.
Can I say 看得见 or 看不见?
Yes. 看得见 (kàn de jiàn) means able to see, and 看不见 (kàn bu jiàn) means unable to see. For example, 太远了，我看不见。 (Tài yuǎn le, wǒ kàn bu jiàn.) It's too far, I can't see it. The same pattern works with 听见 (tīngjiàn): 听得见, 听不见.