Four-character idioms of love that touch the heart: expressing deep affection in everyday words
How many four-character idioms about love do you know? Expressions like “相思相愛” (mutual love) and “依依恋恋” (lingering affection) have long captured people’s feelings of love and carry profound meanings.
The beauty of these words and the subtle shades of emotion hidden within them still resonate with us today.
In this article, we introduce commonly used four-character idioms related to romance.
You’re sure to discover words here that will richly color your own view of love.
Four-character idioms of love that resonate with the heart! Deep affection expressed in common words (1–10)
day and night, even in my dreams
https://www.tiktok.com/@siturenn._.10/video/7426903718919933201This is a four-character idiom that means thinking of someone from morning until night, even in your dreams.
In a romantic context, it expresses deep affection for someone precious—holding them in your heart around the clock and sensing their presence in every moment of daily life.
Even when you can’t meet, you recall a fleeting gesture or a few words and feel your chest warm, and your feelings grow so strong they even appear in your dreams.
It’s not mere fixation; it’s an overflowing emotion born from truly cherishing the other person.
Even today, it’s perfect for describing someone you “can’t forget” or who “always lives in your heart,” and it carries a resonance that symbolizes the purity and poignancy of love.
one day feels like a thousand autumns
https://www.tiktok.com/@yoji_jukuko/video/7411266310966988039It’s a phrase that expresses a longing so strong that a single day feels like a thousand years as you wait to see someone.
The more time you spend thinking of your loved one, the slower time seems to pass, and a searing, aching wistfulness spreads in your heart.
Counting down the days until you can meet a partner who lives far away perfectly captures this feeling.
Because your feelings are so strong, even a brief wait becomes a major trial—while at the same time making the joy of reunion many times greater.
It’s a four-character idiom that reflects the impatience and anticipation of love.
reluctant to part; lingering attachment
https://www.tiktok.com/@chch4pz2525/video/7393312847939259656It is a four-character idiom that strongly expresses the feeling of not wanting to part and lingering over a farewell.
It symbolizes the tenderness of time spent with someone precious and the heart-wrenching emotion felt at the moment of separation.
It evokes vivid scenes such as the bittersweetness of lovers parting or the repeated reunions and farewells in a long-distance relationship.
This expression reflects a natural human emotion: the stronger one’s feelings for a cherished person, the more distance and time manifest as pain.
It is a beautiful way to convey lingering attachment and poignancy toward a loved one.
the suffering of separation from loved ones
https://www.tiktok.com/@rio.r001/video/7512987327564696839It is one of the eight sufferings in Buddhism, a term that expresses the sorrow of having to part from someone dear.
In love, it symbolizes the pain felt in the moment of separation from a beloved partner, in long-distance situations where you cannot meet, or when faced with a final farewell.
No matter how deep the love, confronting the inescapable reality of parting is a great trial for the human heart.
This word conveys the poignancy and anguish that arise precisely because there is love, reflecting emotions that everyone harbors.
It is a bittersweet yet resonant expression that communicates the truth hidden behind love and farewell.
Love extends even to the crows on her house (i.e., love me, love my dog).
https://www.tiktok.com/@_.iloveme5/video/7434895741170093313This is a four-character idiom that expresses the feeling of loving someone so deeply that you come to cherish everything connected to them as well.
Originally, it carried the meaning “even the crow perched on the roof of the person you love seems adorable,” illustrating a special sensitivity born of strong affection.
Naturally growing fond of a partner’s belongings, hobbies, family, and friends is something that happens precisely because the love is deep.
This word beautifully conveys the purity and expansiveness of a heart in love, and it speaks to the great power of love.
It embodies the feeling of caring for the important people and things of the one you love.
daydreams and night dreams
https://www.tiktok.com/@il_60fc/video/7503523653523344647This four-character idiom describes a state in which thoughts of a precious person fill your heart day and night, to the point they even appear in your dreams.
It captures the blend of exhilaration that comes with falling in love and the aching longing that grows when you can’t meet, expressing how the other person constantly occupies your heart.
The experience of recalling them in quiet moments during the day and reuniting in dreams at night evokes a deepening love many can relate to.
This expression vividly conveys the intensity of love and the purity of the heart, beautifully depicting the sincere feelings of thinking about someone dear.
A friendship as inseparable as that of water and fish
https://www.tiktok.com/@a_xil00/video/7543919966932765960It’s a four-character idiom that means an inseparable, indispensable bond—like water and fish.
Originally used to describe the relationship between Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang in the Records of the Three Kingdoms, when applied to romance it conveys a love and trust so deep that one feels they cannot live without the other.
It beautifully expresses a natural need for the other person in daily life, where their very presence becomes a source of emotional support.
Rather than unhealthy dependence, it signifies an ideal relationship of mutual complementarity, a term that fits both romance and friendship.