卿卿我我

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Chinese

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(old) minister; (old) term of endearment between spouses; thou (poet.) (old) minister; (old) term of endearment between spouses; thou (poet.) I; me I; me
simp. and trad.
(卿卿我我)

Etymology

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The chengyu, or at least the reduplication of (MC khjaeng) in it, appears to be influenced by a story in the A New Account of the Tales of the World. Wang Rong, one of the Seven Sages (竹林七賢), felt discomfited by his wife calling him (MC khjaeng), a second-person term of endearment then typically used by the man to refer to the woman (i.e. men's speech). The wife, in retort, famously said

是以 [Literary Chinese, trad.]
是以 [Literary Chinese, simp.]
From: Liu Yiqing (editor), A New Account of the Tales of the World, 5th century CE
Qīn qīng ài qīng, shìyǐ qīng qīng; wǒ bù qīng qīng, shéi dāng qīng qīng? [Pinyin]
I endear my dear and love my dear, and that's why I call my dear "my dear". If I were not to call my dear "my dear", who else is supposed to call my dear "my dear"?

Here in the construct 卿卿, the first is used by conversion (or anthimeria) as a verb that means "to call someone by ", which was idiomatic due to the high degree of elasticity of the Chinese language.

Pronunciation

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Idiom

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卿卿我我

  1. whispers of love; lovers' talk; to bill and coo; to be very much in love; intimate relations