admire · long for

1. Origins, structure, and basic meaning

• Structure: 憧 has 15 strokes, the on-reading しょう, and the kun-reading あこがれる. 憧れる (あこがれる) means to admire or long for.
• Basic usage: 憧れる describes admiring a person or way of life; 憧れ (あこがれ) names that feeling or its object.

2. Common pitfalls and similar expressions

• Longing and its object
  • 空を飛ぶ仕事に憧れている means dreaming of a job that involves flying. In 都会の生活に憧れる, に marks city life as the object of longing.
  • 宇宙飛行士は私の憧れだった means that astronauts were an object of admiration for the speaker. 憧れが年々強くなる describes longing for life by the sea growing stronger each year.