相敬相愛 is an old Chinese proverb that suggests love and respect go together and are to be exchanged between people (especially couples).

The first two characters mean “exchanging respect” or “mutual respect.”

The last two characters create a word that means “to love each other” or “mutual love.”

You'll notice that the first and third characters are the same. So you can read this literally as something like “Exchange respect, exchange love” or “Mutual respect, mutual love.” In English, we'd probably just say, “Mutual love and respect.” Grammar differs in every language - So while the literal translation might sound a bit awkward in English, this phrase is very natural in Chinese.

相愛互敬 is a nice way to say “Love and Respect” in Chinese.

This proverb is about the mutual exchange of love and respect within a good relationship.

The first two characters create a word that means “to love each other” or “mutual love.”

The third character means mutual, interlocking, or in some contexts, “to dovetail” (as in how joints are made in fine furniture).

The last character means “to respect,” “to venerate,” “to salute,” “reverence,” or simply “respect.”