Chinese characters and pinyin
Simplified: 情人眼里出西施
Traditional: 情人眼裡出西施
Pinyin: qíng rén yǎn lǐ chū Xī Shī
Literal translation
In a lover’s eyes appears Xi Shi.
Natural English meaning
Affection makes the beloved seem exceptionally beautiful.
Closest English equivalent
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
The English saying treats beauty as subjective in general; the Chinese proverb specifically describes the transforming gaze of romantic affection and invokes the famed beauty Xi Shi.
When to use it
Use it playfully to say that love shapes how someone sees their partner.
When not to use it
Tone matters: it can sound teasing or dismissive if it implies the person is not otherwise attractive.
Example sentence
在他看来她什么都好，真是情人眼里出西施。
To him, everything about her is lovely—affection shapes the eye of the beholder.
Origin and cultural context
A traditional saying that uses Xi Shi, one of China’s legendary beauties, as its cultural reference point.
Classification: proverb. This label distinguishes a complete proverb or popular saying from a compact idiom or a quotation preserved from a classical text.
