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Doubt expresses a lack of belief due to insufficient evidence.

Suspicion expresses a feeling of belief in the absence of evidence.

If I'm not mistaken, the Chinese language does not distinguish the two.

3 Answers 3

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Yes, it does

Doubt is 疑问, which can be having question about anything, it is a neutral word. and suspicion is 怀疑, usually means suspecting someone has done something wrong, which is usually negative.

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    Thanks, I agree with your translation of 怀疑, but 疑问 doesn't seem to scratch where it itches. Commented Sep 1, 2014 at 15:42
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疑问 can be used as a grammatical term as in 疑问句 interrogative sentence, iciba besides 怀疑 offers these translations for doubt 疑虑; 未确定, for suspicion besides 怀疑 there is 嫌疑; 疑心;example sentences in e。g。nciku and iciba will allow users to choose the most suitable translation。

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  • 未确定 is close, but still off the mark. Commented Sep 2, 2014 at 0:54
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The way it was explained to me was that suspect (in the context you are using it) translates best as 怀疑是 and doubt as 怀疑不是. I don't think it's fair to say the language doesn't differentiate between them just because it considers them to be the positive and negative aspects of the same concept.

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  • Don't be surprised if I tell you Chinese don't distinguish mouse from rat. Commented Sep 13, 2014 at 20:06
  • I don't think we have a word for doubt. Translate the famous phrase "doubt everything", you get " suspect everything." Commented Sep 13, 2014 at 20:22

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