What does 什么叫 mean?

Question

Here is a comment by my friend, when I post it on my WeChat moment:

I: 乌克兰有太多绝代美女，你来吧！

My friend: 什么叫绝代美女？

However, I don't understand what this means. Having google up a little, it seems 什么叫 has a sort of idioms, but I don't get what it means.

The literal translation is "What calls 绝代美女?" but it doesn't make sense. I copied and pasted 绝代美女 from my dictionary so I'm sure it is a valid Chinese word.

So what does 什么叫 mean and what does the entire sentence mean?

Note: I'm male and my friend is female. We are both 20s, if that is relevant.

Answer 1

Think of the term 絕世高手 (Master out of this world/ extraordinary master); 绝代美女 would mean (Beauty out of this generation). Which means you may only see beauty like this once in a generation. It is an exaggerated adjectival phrase, a more realistic version of this phrase would be 'top class' or 'extraordinary'

Exaggerated adjectival phrase is very common in Chinese, for example, 惊天 (shock heaven) is an exaggerated phrase for "shocking"; 万能 (ten thousand usage) is an exaggerated phrase for "multi-functions"

"太多绝代美女" means "there are so many extraordinary beauties "

As for your question, depend on the context, "什么叫" can mean "what calls" (with "what" as the subject) or " what is called" (with what as the object)

In this context : "什么叫绝代美女？", she is asking "what is called extraordinary beauties?"

The difference:

• "什么叫绝代美女？" (what is called extraordinary beauties?) is asking what qualified someone as an extraordinary beauty (asking for your opinion, implies some doubt)

• "什么是绝代美女？" (what is extraordinary beauties?) is asking what is the definition of extraordinary beauties (asking for a definite definition)

Since you claimed Ukraine have many 绝代美女, she was asking you to make clarification on this statement.

She knew what the term '绝代美女' means-- "an extraordinary beautiful woman; a rare beauty"

Answer 2

When you say “我叫Blaszard” to introduce yourself, you don’t mean to say “I call Blaszard,” but “I am Blaszard” or “I’m called Blaszard.”

The same goes for “什么叫绝代美女?”: “What is 绝代美女?” or “What is called 绝代美女?”

So, 什么叫 is a colloquial way of saying 什么是, What is... .

Answer 3

There are many meanings of 意思, such as thought; mind, meaning, reason. Intention, meaning; will; look; taste; fun and so on.
“意思”的意义有很多，如思想；心思，意义，道理。意图，用意；意志；神情；情趣；趣味等等。

什么 is a Chinese word, a question, a question of a noun, usually a question of a question
“什么”是一个汉语词语，表示疑问，是对名词的提问用语，通常表示对事物的提问

Differentity, such as this

• that asked someone, something or something itself or nature.
  What information did you get from
• Ask about something or something What are you telling me?
• imaginary means that something is not sure
  Such as: smell what kind of flowers.
• Negative.
  What is he? You miss him!
• that blame
  What do you laugh like?
• indicates the possibility of asking the word or a series of words in front of it.
  Such as: is this reptile, amphibian, or something else?
• expressed surprise or excitement.
  Such as: what, do not eat breakfast!
• All things.
  Such as: no matter the earth - fertility of all mothers - what is produced.
• used in the "also" before that within the scope of the said no exception.
  He is not afraid of anything.
• used in the "all" before that within the scope of the said no exception.
  Such as: as long as serious study, what can learn. [1]
• for the pronoun with: all, all, everything; for example: as long as you agreed, I give you anything. .... I'm not afraid of anything.

不同情况不同意思，如这个

• 表示询问某人、某物或某事的本身或性质。
  　　如：你从那里得到了什么消息？
• 表示询问某物或某事的情况
  　　如：告诉我你在找什么？
• 虚指，表示不肯定的事物
  　　如：闻到一种什么花香。
• 表示否定。
  　　如：他算什么？你竟挂念他！
• 表示责难。
  　　如：你笑什么?
• 表示询问在它前面的词或一系列的词中所未包括的可能性。
  　　如：这是爬行动物、两栖动物，还是别的什么东西？
• 表示惊讶或激动。
  　　如：什么，不吃早餐啦!
• 一切事物。
  　　如：无论大地——生育一切的母亲——出产什么。
• 用在“也”前，表示所说的范围之内无例外。
  　　如：他什么也不怕。
• 用在“都”前，表示所说的范围之内无例外。
  　　如：只要认真学，什么都能学会。[1]
• 作代词用：所有、全部、一切；例如：只要你答应了，我什么都给你。 ....我什么都不怕。

Chinese translation, yes words to see Chinese, English is not very sorry

中文翻译的，可以的话看中文，英语不是很好抱歉