寵愛一身 (ちょうあいいっしん)

Today’s Yojijukugo is 寵愛一身 (ちょうあいいっしん).

• Meaning:
  • 多くの人の中から特別に目をかけられ、愛情を一人占めにすること。
  • Meaning: To be particularly noticed in the middle of many people and monopolizing affection.

• Composition:
  • 寵愛 (ちょうあい): This combines two characters that both mean “affection” or “love” (寵 and 愛), thus translated in English as “affection” or also “favor“.
  • 一身 (いっしん): This means “oneself” or “one body” by combining “one” (一) with “body” or “person” (身).

• Notes:
  • This comes from the a poem in the Chang Hen Ge (called ちょうごんか – 長恨歌 in Japanese), written in 809 by the famous Chinese poet Bai Juyi.
  • The poem in Chinese says “後宮佳麗三千人、三千寵愛在一身”, which could be translated as “Although there were 3,000 beauties in the shrine, the grace of 3,000 people is in one body.”

• Example:
  • 彼女は社長の寵愛一身にあり、速く昇進しているようだ。
  • かのじょはしゃちょうのちょうあいいっしんにあり、はやくしょうしんしているようだ。
  • It seems she is getting promoted quickly because she has all the president’s favors (= she is monopolizing the president’s attention and affection.)

This Yojijukugo is in the Kanji Kentei Level 1.5 (準一級) and doesn’t have a synonym.

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誰かの寵愛一身にあっていても努力を辞めずに頑張るべきだ！