29
votes
Accepted
Why is hot water called 开水?
One of the meanings of 開 is 沸騰 (boiling) in 《漢語大辭典》開32.
It's nothing to do with "open" or "how".
開水 boiled water
熱水 hot water
燒水 to boil water
When the water is still very hot, we can use 開水 or 熱開水 ...
- 5,886
17
votes
Accepted
Can 您 to be used in plural form?
We do not use 您们 as a plural form in Chinese. If you want to show respect for more than one person with 您, you can add number + 位 to address these persons. For example:
您二位 for two persons
您三位 for ...
- 1,025
15
votes
Accepted
Does Chinese have an equivalent to “Person A”?
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 ...
- 3,089
14
votes
Accepted
Difference between 肯定 and 确定
肯定 certain; sure; affirm; (the outcome is virtually a fact)
确定 determine; confirm; finalize (the outcome is already a fact)
You can say, "Team China certainly (肯定) will lose to team Germany in the ...
- 77.1k
13
votes
Why can't I say "我的腰不好”
腰 or 腰子 is slang for kidney. In traditional Chinese medicine theory, kidney is responsible for producing and storing sperms. Thus 腰不好 becomes a slang implying weakness in bed.
It takes a cheeky ...
- 4,532
13
votes
Accepted
What are the most common Mandarin words for each pinyin syllable?
After a bit of searching I could not find a proper resource to answer this question, so I started compiling compiled a comprehensive list by hand.
Since you say that the most common character for each ...
- 5,452
12
votes
Accepted
What are the differences between 报名，登记，挂号？
Definitions:
报名
To fill in personal information to the organizer in order to participate in the activities.
（参加活动时，向主办单位填写个人资料。）
登记
To record the relevant matters in the form or the booklet of the ...
- 1,456
12
votes
Can 您 to be used in plural form?
Usually 您 is not pluralized with 們 like other personal pronouns. This is because etymologically 您 is a contraction of 你 and 們, and still connotes second person plural in some varieties of northern ...
- 717
11
votes
Accepted
Politeness in referring to a recent death
TL;DR
The most general euphemism for "die" in Chinese is
去世
Literally means "leave the world". Similar to the English expression "pass on/away".
It would be polite enough to address anyone's ...
10
votes
Accepted
What other words than 奥 exist for places of reveration?
四隅（four corners of a room）
宧（yí ／ ㄧˊ）：室內東北角（northeastern corner）
窔（yào ／ ㄧㄠˋ ）同“穾”：室內東南角（southeast corner）
奥（ào ／ ㄠˋ）：室內西南角（southwest corner）
屋漏（wū lòu ／ ㄨ ㄌㄡˋ）：室內西北角（northwest corner）
- 5,886
10
votes
Accepted
Nuance between the two words for orange , cheng se and ju se
IN SHORT
Both words are indeed used. In everyday conversation they're usually not distinguished but have different usages.
If we go a little deeper, they also represent different colors: 橘色 has a more ...
- 4,485
9
votes
Which one is correct? 桂林的冬天 or 冬天的桂林
Both are correct. There is no "better" because they both have very different meanings.
In 我不喜欢桂林的冬天, you are referring specifically to "the state of the weather" only; i.e. how you ...
- 3,597
8
votes
Accepted
Can 丢 refer to people?
丢
KEY
6 {colloquial} (of a person, child, etc. that went missing) have disappeared, gotten lost
ex.:
我们的孩子丢了
发现孩子丢了，第一时间并不是去报警
公安刑侦局打拐办主任：孩子丢了要立刻报警
梦见孩子丢了，是什么意思？
Mou某♦
- 35.7k
8
votes
Should I use "闷声发大财" or "闷声大发财"？
Here is the summary of google hits on each term, including both Simplified and Traditional Chinese. Blue is for 发大财, and red is for 大发财:
So apparently 闷声发大财 is more ubiquitous, both in Simp. and Trad....
- 4,532
8
votes
Accepted
下残 in text on "Jesus-sūtra" (景教)
下 means the following content.
残 means incomplete.
下残 means the following content is incomplete.
- 1,456
8
votes
Does 来 mean "bring"?
来 come --> deliver --> serve --> bring
来一瓶啤酒 (come --> deliver --> serve --> bring me a bottle of beer)
The subject in 来一瓶啤酒 is the person listening to this order (e.g. waiter) and ...
- 77.1k
8
votes
What does GG mean here?
After a close match, the players might say "good game" to each other
It can also be used as a mocky, for example, I beat you 6-0 6-0 in tennis, but you still played a good game
Typing "...
- 77.1k
7
votes
Accepted
Difference between 製作 and 製造?
The character 作 contains the meaning of 'create'
製作 refers to crafting, creating or making something that require skilled hands or creative mind (usually a single piece or in modest quantity)
For "...
- 77.1k
7
votes
Accepted
Cangjie reference
至少有兩種資源：網站和對照表
五個網站資源
(1) 漢文庫典
漢文庫典的資料庫及字詞、成語等典籍，係以【朱邦復工作室】所發展的倉頡系統製作、轉換。
朱邦復是倉頡輸入法的發明人。這像是官方最新的版本。
(2) 馬來西亞 倉頡之友
以第五代倉頡碼為主，有時會有第三代的編碼。
(3) 維基詞典
這似乎是第三代的編碼。有時會有第五代的編碼。
(4) 汉典
(5) 国学大师
...
- 1,974
7
votes
Accepted
What does the 过 mean in 我有点过厌他?
I am sure it is a typo
我有点过厌他 should be 我有点讨厌他 (I am a little bit disgusted with him/ I am kind of hating him)
讨厌 = disgusted with; hate
过厌 makes no sense
In traditional Chinese characters, you ...
- 77.1k
7
votes
Do all one-syllable words need to be followed by a 子 to make it colloquial?
Modern Chinese loves disyllabic words, that's why often you find seemingly meaningless "affixes" added to characters to sound "nicer".
Prefixation:
老 (老虎),
小 (小李),
初 (初一)
Suffixation:
子 (椅子),
頭 (...
- 1,163
7
votes
Accepted
怎么读“÷”号在这个等式里？how should "÷" be read aloud in this equation?
You should read it as "chúyǐ". "除" and "除以" have different meanings in mathematics.
16 除以 8 等于 2
16 除 8 等于 0.5
That means "16 除以 8" is equal to "8 除 16&...
- 174
7
votes
Accepted
What's the meaning of 稿件投诉, I saw it on 哔哩哔哩 while streaming?
The original meaning of 稿/稿件 is contribution/manuscript/draft/sketch as has been yielded by your search. It was a reference to a manuscript you submit (that is, a contribution you make) to editors of ...
- 429
6
votes
Accepted
words where it is important to distinguish between the neutral tone and the citation tone
Zhang and Yang (2007:84-89) describe several instances where pronunciations in the neutral tone and the citation tone of a word may coexist:
When contrasting polysemy (辨義). Usually, the neutral tone ...
- 5,595
6
votes
Accepted
What is the polite way to say a grandparent has passed away?
The common polite terms for 「死了」(died):
過身 (passed away)
去世 (left this world)
逝世 (departed from this world)
仙逝 (departed to the spiritual world)
走了 (had gone)
Example sentences:
他過身了
他已經去世了
曹操在 220 ...
- 77.1k
6
votes
Accepted
Question about how to say "sounds like" "looks like" "tastes like" "smells like" "feels like (referring to touch)"?
Some of the direct translation:
"it sounds like your work is very interesting!"
听起来你的工作非常有意思!
"he looks like he is very tired"
他看起来非常累。
"this book looks like a hard read"
这书想必是很难读的。
"this vase ...
- 638
6
votes
Is the rendering of 相 into English as "mutual(ly)" sensible?
少欲俱相類，相聚，相應，相可 《雜阿含經》
少欲者俱相類，相聚，相應，相可 《佛說相應相可經》
少欲者: 貪欲少的人、欲望較少的人 People with less desire
俱: all
相類: 互相類似 They think and behave similarly.
相聚: 互相聚集 They often get together.
相應: 互相契合 They tally ...
- 1,456
6
votes
Does Chinese have an equivalent to “Person A”?
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 ...
- 22.1k
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