In English, sometimes we'll refer to a person whose name is unknown or undisclosed as "Person A" particularly in hypothetical scenarios. Does a similar thing exist in Chinese that doesn't make use of English letters?
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1Some other alternatives: 某甲，某乙，etc.– xbhNov 8, 2018 at 3:40
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6 Answers
You would say
甲、乙、丙、丁……
which come from 天干, you could also say
路人甲、路人乙、路人丙……
If you know the person's surname, you could also say
李某、王某……
In case if you want the specify that person's occupation
某市民、某员工、某政府工作人员……
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@rambler Those would almost be real name and nicknames, which can be commonly used in simple short made up stories.– zyyMar 19, 2019 at 13:21
To refer to someone non-specific, you can say「某某/某人/某某人」.
我廠「某人」偷了東西，我不點他的名字，他應坦白交代。
Someone in my factory was stealing things. I won't mention him by name, but he should come forth honestly and explain himself.
To refer to Person A or Party A, for example in an agreement or contract, you can say 「甲方」(as opposed to Person/Party B「乙方」or both parties「雙方」).
In addition to those involving 某, as explained in other answers, there are some general names used quite often (e.g. in story-telling) like 张三 and 李四.
The complete list goes as: 刘一、陈二、张三、李四、王五、赵六、孙七、周八、吴九、郑十
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2Btw, I think this is the equivalent of John Doe (and Jane Doe) used in English. Nov 25, 2018 at 4:00
有个人。 means someone/somebody whom you don't know.
Let me introduce two things:
天干 (Celestial Stems):
甲 乙 丙 丁 戊 己 庚 辛 壬 癸
and
地支 (Terrestrial Branches):
子 丑 寅 卯 辰 巳 午 未 申 酉 戌 亥
These two things are often used for these purposes.
Example 1
某甲 person A
某乙 person B
Example 2
甲型肝炎 (甲肝) hepatitis A
乙型肝炎 (乙肝) hepatitis B
丙型肝炎 hepatitis C
丁型肝炎 hepatitis D
Example 3
甲型超声波 ultrasound A
乙型超声波 (B超) ultrasound B
Example 4
甲烷 methane
乙烷 ethane
丙烷 propane
丁烷 butane
戊烷 pentane
己烷 hexane
庚烷 heptane
辛烷 octane
壬烷 nonane
癸烷 decane
Yes, it does. The most famous unknown person A is "张三" in Chinese.
