Tagged Questions
2
votes
1answer
240 views
The origin of 鸡贼
I speak Mandarin Chinese, but it is the first time that I stumbled upon the word 鸡贼. According to 百度百科 (Baidu wiki), it means being stingy. The wiki page also says that it comes from the Beijing ...
3
votes
5answers
579 views
Origin of 呆在 vs 待在
Both 呆在 and 待在 are acceptable ways of writing dai1 zai4 meaning "stay at/in". For instance, a couple sentences from iciba:
我们因天气寒冷呆在家里。 Because of the cold weather, we stayed at home.
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2
votes
2answers
214 views
留学: Why the use of “留”?
I'm sure like many students of Chinese, my first encounter with the character 留 was in the word 留学, meaning "to study abroad".
Some time later I encountered 留 as an independent word, meaning "to ...
4
votes
5answers
198 views
What was this online dictionary's name with ancient traditional and simplified characters and etymology?
I once found a Mandarin Chinese dictionary which for each character listed the ancient, the traditional and the simplified Chinese characters. For each it described its meaning and how it developed ...
7
votes
2answers
1k views
What is the exact meaning of 吃豆腐, and where does the expression come from?
I'm not talking about eating tofu, but the expression that means something more like taking advantage of someone. What exactly does 吃豆腐 mean, and where does this expression come from?
3
votes
5answers
513 views
What is the correct way to write 'niu bi', and how did it get its meaning in Chinese?
'niu bi' (牛逼? like the bees knees in English) is one of the more amusing expressions I learnt in my time in China. The literal meaning in English is quite colourful, so I won't describe it here, but ...
3
votes
1answer
141 views
What is the exact meaning and etymology of 拜年？
Since Chinese New Year is on the way (and thanks to Xiaohouzi's great suggestion), I've been thinking all about the new year. One term the sticks out is 拜年.
I'm very curious to know the exact ...
7
votes
2answers
154 views
Why does 有机 as in 有机食品 mean organic?
有 and 机 are some of the first characters we learn in Chinese, but I only recently found out that they mean "organic" when put together. Can anyone explain why this is?
18
votes
7answers
522 views
Why is 有 (yǒu) the only verb that requires 没 while other verbs can use 不?
To negate something, we use 不 (bù) before the verb, such as in this short dialogue:
A: 你是老师吗？ = Are you a teacher?
B: 不是。 = I'm not.
However, the verb 有 (yǒu) is the only one that requires 没 ...
