Questions tagged [word]
For questions about a discrete unit of written or spoken text of the smallest size to convey distinct meaning. In English but not Chinese will usually be separated from other words by a space when written or printed. Other tags that may be more appropriate include [word-choice] and [word-requests].
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信息 vs 資訊: what's the difference?
I asked ChatGPT and I got the following response, is this correct?
"信息" (information) has a broader and more general use about being data/facts/information, while "资讯" (news) is ...
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Does Chinese have homonyms (words which have the same spelling but different meanings or parts of speech)?
In English, we have the word "tear", which has at least 2 unrelated meanings:
Tear like paper (verb or noun).
Tear like tear drop (verb or noun).
Here are more examples in terms of English ...
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Why did 鲁迅 write 贿路 and not 贿赂 ("bribe")?
如果你遇见有人被冤枉，被诬陷的，即使明知道他是好人，也万不可挺身而出，去给他解释或分辩，否则，你就会被人说是他的亲戚，或得了他的贿路……
If you encounter someone being wronged, even if you know they are a good person, you definitely shouldn't step forward and and ...
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Is the 累 in 拖累 third or fourth tone?
My textbook (《新实用汉语课本5》 p.16) gives the 累 in 拖累 a fourth tone: tuōlèi
but other dictionaries (e.g., CC-CEDICT) ascribe 累 a third tone: tuōlěi.
I feel like it's a bug in the textbook, but maybe ...
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If 词汇量 is a word, why is 汉字量 not a word?
I was updating my iTalki profile, and discussed my 词汇量. I then thought, maybe I should also mention my "汉字量". It seems 汉字量 is not a word, though.
I guess it makes sense, 汉字量 is "...
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Why is it written 安详 and not 安祥?
CC-CEDICT: 安详 (ānxiáng) serene
Regarding the above word, my Chinese-Chinese dictionary (现代汉语规范词典 "GF" in Pleco) cautions me 注意：“详”不要误写作“祥” (despite CC-CEDICT including it). While 祥 doesn'...
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More logical expressions of "爸爸把你生下来"
I get stuck by the "生" in expressions like these two:
闺女，爸爸把你生下来，却有很多的无奈
世界上有爸爸生孩子的吗？还真有！
More examples like the first one can be found here:
为何大多数爸爸想生儿子
准爸爸怎么样可以生男孩
Can a father 生 a ...
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What's the difference between 既然 and 鉴于?
I asked ChatGPT for sentences comparing
CC-CEDICT: 鉴于 (jiànyú) in view of / seeing that / considering / whereas
CC-CEDICT: 既然 (jìrán) since / as / this being the case
and it gave me:
鉴于天气不好，...
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What does 放生矿泉水 mean in this news report?
近日，有人在宁波永丰桥上念念有词，“放生”矿泉水，旁边还摆放着贡品，有关此事的视频和照片一经网络传播，立刻引发热议。
This is the news report.
What does 放生矿泉水 mean?
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Meaning of 你怎麼好到我這裡來!
你怎麼好到我這裡來!
What does this sentence mean in general, and specifically what does 好 mean here?
More context:
李先生站起來，走到帳幕門口去一看，黃弟弟正蹲在那裡! "你怎麼好到我這裡來!" 李先生急得滿頭大汗!
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How is it possible 坐 in 停车坐爱枫林晚 mean 因为?
Our teacher of Chinese language and culture said this word means 因为. I stop my cart because of the evening scene of maple trees I admire.
But friends of mine question this. They give examples in ...
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Difference between 怎么办 and 做什么？
1994年，理查德得了心脏病，当时医生说他剩下的时间可能不多了。那时，他开始思考自己的人生，“我该怎么办？ 我该做什么？”
This is from the Standard Book of HSK5, section 21.
I am in this point:
我(I)该(should)怎么(what)办(do)？ 我(I)该(should)做(do)什么(what)？
So what is ...
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How to translate "population" into Chinese?
Several dictionary says population means "人口".
However, I learnt that 人口 exclusively means the population of human.
In research, we often use population of rabbit or similar things. Can I ...
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What does 效用先生加纳阔佬 mean?
It is from a book I read, but I do not remember the title of it. It looks something like 儒林外史 or 镜花园 or similar title.
Isn't 加纳 a country in Africa? I hear many local people of Nanning, the city where ...
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Difference Between 玩意 and 名堂
What is the difference between 玩意 and 名堂?
I learnt from other sources that 玩意 is the expression from 北方人 when they are upset about something like 这是什么玩意啊? (equal to 这是什么鬼啊?) (correct me if I'm wrong), ...
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What is the story behind 逐日移山?
I read the following on social media which is provided in both Chinese and English, and it looks like the Chinese is the original and the English the translation:
热爱各有不同，青年本该如此，每一代逐日移山的青年都有自己奋不顾身的热爱，...
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What's the logic and etymology behind 未免 = "rather", such as in 未免太贵了?
CC-CEDICT 未免 (wèi miǎn) unavoidably / can't help / really / rather
The word 未免 is often translated to "a bit too" or "rather" when used in sentences such as 这个价格未免太贵了吧 or 他未免太紧张了 (...
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How do you describe Chinese words when you are learning Chinese?
I am making a fantasy language and trying to learn how other languages outside of English organize their grammars. I am looking at Mandarin Chinese Result Complements, and they are all complex ...
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Is 播主 actually a word?
I'm getting into making YouTube videos, and sometimes I find it hard to express the concept of a "YouTuber". I've been calling myself a 播主, but it's not in the CC-CEDICT, and maybe I should ...
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What does 圆 mean in this context?
只要你成功了有钱了，丑是耐看的，胖是圆润的，矮是精华，黑是质感，什么缺点都圆得过去。
As long as you are successful and become rich, ...(Sorry, I don't understand the rest, especially the word 圆 in 都圆得过去, please help.)
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Can 气候 literally or non-literally mean "atmosphere"?
CC-CEDICT: 气候 (qìhòu) climate / atmosphere / situation / CL: 種｜种
I'm puzzled as to why "atmosphere" is listed here. Literally, an atmosphere is a gaseous layer that surrounds a planet, ...
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What does 不以结婚为目的的谈恋爱都是耍流氓 mean?
In the first episode of the Tencent TV drama三分野, the heroine said the above sentence. What does it mean?
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What does 头 mean in 奔头 and 盼头?
Today in my stroll of the campus I saw a post saying 让职业教育有学头，有奔头，有盼头, that highly interested and confused me at the same time, especially the word 头 repeated three times. Does it mean a target, like ...
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What does 下头 mean?
I know the word 上头 means "go to head" as in 这酒很上头(the alcohol is too strong and people may easily get drunk), but what about 下头 as in the sentence这个渣男真是让人下头？
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What does 三房 mean?
According to recent news, 赌王三房的何超莲窦骁结婚，没想到把四房的何猷君和奚梦瑶夫妻俩弄上了热搜。奚梦瑶第一时间跑出来声明，自己没和窦骁谈过恋爱。吃瓜网友可能觉得没什么，但是奚梦瑶要是不即刻辟谣，这里面问题就很大了。奚梦瑶是四房的儿媳，窦骁是三房的女婿。
Is 房 an honorary title?
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What does 敦 mean in 敦伦?
In the short story 黄金时代 by 王小波, there are words that 人家夫妇敦伦，我们无伦可敦，只好敦友谊。她说好，怎么敦？正着敦反着敦？
What does the word 敦 mean? What does the author imply?
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How good are the "Chinese text segmentation algorithms" at isolating words from a string of Chinese characters?
I am looking for a way to segment a Chinese sentence into the words that make the sentence up, using custom software, like this:
import pynlpir
pynlpir.open()
s = '欢迎科研人员、技术工程师、企事业单位与个人参与NLPIR平台的建设工作。...
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How to properly map pinyin to Chinese text in a sentence?
I am working on displaying Chinese texts like CText does, but I wanted to have a version of each text which displays the pinyin next to it.
My question is, how do you properly represent Chinese "...
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How to translate 捧杀?
1. Meaning in Chinese
The original meaning of 捧杀 is (from Modern Chinese Dictionary, Edition 5th):
Giving excessive compliments or flattery to make someone feel complacent and fall behind, even ...
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What's the meaning of 眼力见?
Context:
他这个人就是没有眼力见，不会来事，你别跟他一般见识
八戒鸡贼不言语，沙和尚又没有眼力见，只有猴子每天劝唐僧下来走走。
他也是有点眼力见的，面前的两个人这副谈话的模样，一看就知道是在聊正事，他现在应该做的是马上开溜，最好避开远远的。
妻子忽然抱怨道：“你说你，都这岁数了，还这么没有眼力见儿。天都凉下来了，空调用不上了，还不把电源关上。”啥也别说了……
李总召集聊友聚会，...
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What is meant by the comma in the Chinese Wiktionary terms?
I am browsing the wiktionary data for the Chinese terms, and found 一子失著，滿盤皆輸. What does that mean, is that two words that have the same definition? Or some sort of orthographic thing I am not aware of ...
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How does 斡旋 mean "to mediate"?
I'm studying CCTV news with my Chinese teacher, where I encountered the word 斡旋 for the first time:
CC-CEDICT: 斡旋 (wòxuán) to mediate (a conflict etc)
CC-CEDICT: 斡 (wò) to turn
CC-CEDICT: 旋 (xuán...
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What does 聊以拟伏腊 mean especially when it is put above the doorframe?
In an old residence of a general, there is a stone tablet high above the door on which there is written "聊以拟伏腊".What does that mean?
The following is given by the AI ChatGPT that goes viral ...
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Is there a dictionary or database of Chinese morphemes and Chinese words with morphological information?
Linguistics textbooks on Chinese morphology identify the morpheme (词素/语素) and word (词) as linguistic entities. In addition, they propose a classification system for morphemes (词素/语素) as:
自由 eg. 地 牛 走
...
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Keeping up with the Joneses
What is the best Chinese proverb or translation that would best capture the meaning of the English idiom "Keeping up with the Joneses"?
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Can 追求 function as a noun?
I stumbled upon a bunch of example sentences at YouDao wherein 追求 is used as a noun:
对金钱的追求支配着他的生活。
我对崭新未来的追求未曾犹豫过。
谁能否认他们的追求是合理的呢？
I'm skeptical. I looked it up in 现代汉语词典, and it doesn't list 追求 ...
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How to analyse the word 是指?
Is there any attested etymology for this word or can anyone otherwise attempt to break down its compositional logic for me please?
On the face of it, 是指 looks structurally similar to 是说. However, the ...
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What does 广大 mean in 广大青年?
I understand that 广 means wide or broad,大 means big or large, which should be used to describe the size of a place, but not for the population of people.
Does the above case of 广大青年 refer to all the ...
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What people are classified as 高级人民 in China?
I notice there are names of institutions like "XX高级人民法院", which make me wonder what kind of people can be classified as 高级人民?
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Isn't 完整 the same as 全面 in the catchphrase 完整准确全面贯彻落实党中央决策部署?
完整准确全面贯彻落实党中央决策部署 or words to that effect can be found in the mainstream media in China, with the three adverbs 完整准确全面used as a whole， but I find that 完整 and 全面 are almost the same, if not identical.
...
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Does 澄清 ("to clarify") also mean 解决 ("to resolve" [a problem])?
澄清： 「形」（水）清澈。 「动」使清楚；弄明白。
In revising the word 澄清, I found multiple examples on YouDao where it means something along the lines of 解决 (to resolve [a problem]), such as:
这就澄清了问题。
今晚乔布斯彻底地澄清了这个问题。
...
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What does 气场全开 mean?
Reading a sentence "37岁秦岚登T台走秀气场全开秀迷人天鹅颈", I check online the meaning of the idiom 气场全开,which is given as 自己不说话，站在那里别人都怕自己 (you scare the other people with your silence), but that sounds ...
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“陈旧”这个词一定是贬义词吗?
陈旧：（形容词）旧；过时的
在复习、学习HSK7~9级词汇时，我遇到了“陈旧”这个词。我认为“陈旧”是贬义词，即陈旧的东西一定有什么缺点，比如它已经被淘汰掉了或者不再被人接受的，所以你不应该使用它，或者至少有着更好的选择。
我找到的例句包括这样的搭配：
陈旧的观念（或信念）
陈旧的设备
陈旧的信息
陈旧的词语
这些例子都和我的假设一致的：“陈旧”是贬义词。可是，我在这里也遇到了一些这类的句子：...
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How to do basic similes (comparisons) in Chinese?
Similes in English are like "you are as tall as a tree" or "you are like a monkey in many ways". "Watchful like a hunter, open minded like a beautiful blue flower, ready like ...
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How does Chinese handle the -ing and -ed in common names, like "Black-bellied whistling duck"?
After learning some more about how Chinese generally handles -ed and -ing from English, I am still confused as to how it deals with -ed and -ing (and even -er) in common names of things. Like these ...
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How do you say the same thing as a formal noun phrase in Chinese?
I asked this earlier, which talked about:
Giraffe 長頸鹿：long neck deer
What is still not clear to me was discussed a little in the comments, but I still don't get it. How do you say "long neck ...
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How does Chinese support the equivalent of the various -ed and -ing structures from English?
Here are the links I'm referencing:
-ed
Used to form past participles of (regular) verbs.
He has pointed at the dog.
Used to form possessional adjectives from nouns.
point + -ed → pointed
As ...
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2
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What does 问道 mean?
To report the ongoing 20th Communist Party of China National Congress, China Daily, the official national English language media of mainland China, issued a video program titled 问道, with its English ...
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How does Chinese deal with English's nested noun-phrase constructions?
Similar to my last question, I am looking at the list of common bird names in English and trying to understand how Chinese would represent the more complex ones, such as:
Chestnut-breasted whiteface
...
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1
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Database of organism names (plants, animals, bugs, fish, etc.) in Chinese with literal meaning?
I just found this Chinese bird name website, which lists the Chinese name, pinyin, and literal English "gloss" (literal English meaning), like this for the "Ducks" section:
...
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