<p>Yes.</p>

<p><a href="https://www.mdbg.net/chinese/dictionary?page=worddict&amp;wdrst=0&amp;wdqtm=1&amp;wdqcham=1&amp;wdqt=%E5%A4%84" rel="nofollow noreferrer">处</a> also has two different readings:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>chǔ</p>
</blockquote>

<p>and</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>chù</p>
</blockquote>

<p>with many different meanings.</p>

<p>chǔ for instance means:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>to reside / to live / to dwell / to be in / to be situated at / to stay / to get along with / to be in a position of / to deal with / to discipline / to punish </p>
</blockquote>

<p>while chù means:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>place / location / spot / point / office / department / bureau / respect / classifier for locations or items of damage: spot, point </p>
</blockquote>

<p>This is not uncommon, especially with simplified characters as sometimes multiple traditional characters get simplified into the same singular character, you just need to know when what means what.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-04-26T12:27:08.997Z
2020-04-26T12:27:08.997Z
Mou某
<blockquote>
  <p>Can one chinese character represent many different words?</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Most Chinese characters only <em>pertain</em> to something, akin to prefixes or suffixes in English, and ordinarily not used alone.  When someone asks <em>what does this character mean?</em> the answer typically varies with what word it's contained in.</p>

<p>For example <a href="http://youdao.com/w/%E5%B9%B3" rel="nofollow noreferrer">平</a> (flat) would not ordinarily be used by itself (although occasionally it is);  it'd usually belong to a word such as <a href="http://youdao.com/w/%E5%B9%B3%E8%A1%A1" rel="nofollow noreferrer">平衡</a> (balance), <a href="http://youdao.com/w/%E5%92%8C%E5%B9%B3" rel="nofollow noreferrer">和平</a> (peace), <a href="http://youdao.com/w/%E5%B9%B3%E5%AE%89" rel="nofollow noreferrer">平安</a> (safety), <a href="http://youdao.com/w/%E5%85%AC%E5%B9%B3" rel="nofollow noreferrer">公平</a> (fair), <a href="http://youdao.com/w/%E5%B9%B3%E5%87%A1" rel="nofollow noreferrer">平凡</a> (ordinary), etc.</p>

<p>With that in mind, single-character words are relatively few, but they can have multiple distinct meanings.  Here are some examples which arise in early Chinese studies:</p>

<ul>
<li><strong>米</strong> (mǐ) means both "a meter" (一百<strong>米</strong> = 100 meters) and "rice" (两斤<strong>米</strong> = 1kg rice)</li>
<li><strong>生</strong> (shēng) means both "to give birth" (我<strong>生</strong>宝宝了 = I gave birth) and "raw" (那个肉是<strong>生</strong>的 = that meat is raw).</li>
<li><strong>站</strong> (zhàn) means both "to stand" (我<strong>站</strong>在这儿 = I stand here) and "station" (这是哪个<strong>站</strong>? = what station is this?)</li>
<li><strong>等</strong> (děng) means both "to wait" (我<strong>等</strong>你 = I wait for you) and "etc." (房子、汽车<strong>等</strong> = house, car, etc.)</li>
<li><strong>角</strong> (jiǎo) means both "corner" (三角形有三个<strong>角</strong> = triangles have three corners) and "0.1 yuan" (一元等于十<strong>角</strong> = one yuan equals 10 jiao)</li>
<li><strong>读</strong> (dú) means both "to study" (<strong>读</strong>科学 = study science) and "to read" (<strong>读</strong>书 = read a book)</li>
<li><strong>贵</strong> (guì) means both "expensive" (太<strong>贵</strong>了 = too expensive) and "precious" (很<strong>贵</strong>的宝宝 = precious baby)</li>
</ul>

<p>Sometimes they also have different pronunciations:</p>

<ul>
<li><strong>还</strong> means both "still" [pronounced hái] (你<strong>还</strong>爱我吗? = do you still love me?) and "to return" [pronounced huán] (我<strong>还</strong>了车 = I returned the car)</li>
<li><strong>只</strong> means "only" [pronounced zhǐ] (我<strong>只</strong>是一个人) and is a measure word for certain animals [pronounced zhī] (一<strong>只</strong>鸟 = a bird)</li>
</ul>

<p>Some of the above examples have additional meanings.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-04-27T10:31:00.297Z
2020-04-27T10:44:06.760Z
2020-04-27T10:44:06.760Z
Becky 李蓓
<p>Take a look at this character </p>

<p><a href="https://www.mdbg.net/chinese/dictionary?page=worddict&amp;wdrst=0&amp;wdqtm=0&amp;wdqcham=1&amp;wdqt=%E5%87%A0" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.mdbg.net/chinese/dictionary?page=worddict&amp;wdrst=0&amp;wdqtm=0&amp;wdqcham=1&amp;wdqt=%E5%87%A0</a></p>

<p>几</p>

<p>It has 3 meanings and has a different tone </p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/rawYZ.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/rawYZ.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>

<p>If it's true that one character can represent other words, please show me other samples.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-04-26T12:18:58.807Z
Haven't you just answered your own question?
L. F.
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-04-26T12:20:07.000Z
I don't believe it's true. There must be something wrong. If so please show me other samples
user4951
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-04-26T12:27:50.203Z
This phenomenon is very common in Chinese.  Pick a random character from a Chinese dictionary, and there's a decent chance of it having multiple meanings.  Just like how *set* has [dozens of meanings](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/set)
L. F.
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-04-26T12:27:55.607Z
It's true, because (as you've already seen) there are phonetic loan usages for characters. Also, this shouldn't be tagged `simplified-chinese` - Chinese, from the beginning of its written history, has used characters for multiple meanings. That's why many of them became more complex in the first place - to distinguish between different words from an overloaded base character.
dROOOze
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-04-26T12:37:35.537Z
so it's like homophone or homograph phenomena?
user4951
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-04-26T21:27:44.583Z
This happens with some super common characters, like 了 and 得
Ben Jackson
<simplified-characters>
Can one chinese character represent many different words?
# Can one chinese character represent many different words?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2020-04-26)

Take a look at this character

<https://www.mdbg.net/chinese/dictionary?page=worddict&wdrst=0&wdqtm=0&wdqcham=1&wdqt=%E5%87%A0>

几

It has 3 meanings and has a different tone

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/rawYZ.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/rawYZ.png)

If it's true that one character can represent other words, please show me other samples.

**Tags:** simplified-characters
> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Haven't you just answered your own question?  
> **username_0**: I don't believe it's true. There must be something wrong. If so please show me other samples  
> **username_1**: This phenomenon is very common in Chinese.  Pick a random character from a Chinese dictionary, and there's a decent chance of it having multiple meanings.  Just like how *set* has [dozens of meanings](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/set)  
> **username_2**: It's true, because (as you've already seen) there are phonetic loan usages for characters. Also, this shouldn't be tagged `simplified-chinese` - Chinese, from the beginning of its written history, has used characters for multiple meanings. That's why many of them became more complex in the first place - to distinguish between different words from an overloaded base character.  
> **username_0**: so it's like homophone or homograph phenomena?  
> **username_3**: This happens with some super common characters, like 了 and 得  

---

## 2 answers

### Answer by username_4 on 2020-04-26. Score: 3 | Accepted answer

Yes.

[处](https://www.mdbg.net/chinese/dictionary?page=worddict&wdrst=0&wdqtm=1&wdqcham=1&wdqt=%E5%A4%84) also has two different readings:

> chǔ

and

> chù

with many different meanings.

chǔ for instance means:

> to reside / to live / to dwell / to be in / to be situated at / to stay / to get along with / to be in a position of / to deal with / to discipline / to punish

while chù means:

> place / location / spot / point / office / department / bureau / respect / classifier for locations or items of damage: spot, point

This is not uncommon, especially with simplified characters as sometimes multiple traditional characters get simplified into the same singular character, you just need to know when what means what.


---

### Answer by username_5 on 2020-04-27. Score: 1

> Can one chinese character represent many different words?

Most Chinese characters only *pertain* to something, akin to prefixes or suffixes in English, and ordinarily not used alone. When someone asks *what does this character mean?* the answer typically varies with what word it's contained in.

For example [平](http://youdao.com/w/%E5%B9%B3) (flat) would not ordinarily be used by itself (although occasionally it is); it'd usually belong to a word such as [平衡](http://youdao.com/w/%E5%B9%B3%E8%A1%A1) (balance), [和平](http://youdao.com/w/%E5%92%8C%E5%B9%B3) (peace), [平安](http://youdao.com/w/%E5%B9%B3%E5%AE%89) (safety), [公平](http://youdao.com/w/%E5%85%AC%E5%B9%B3) (fair), [平凡](http://youdao.com/w/%E5%B9%B3%E5%87%A1) (ordinary), etc.

With that in mind, single-character words are relatively few, but they can have multiple distinct meanings. Here are some examples which arise in early Chinese studies:

* **米** (mǐ) means both "a meter" (一百**米** = 100 meters) and "rice" (两斤**米** = 1kg rice)
* **生** (shēng) means both "to give birth" (我**生**宝宝了 = I gave birth) and "raw" (那个肉是**生**的 = that meat is raw).
* **站** (zhàn) means both "to stand" (我**站**在这儿 = I stand here) and "station" (这是哪个**站**? = what station is this?)
* **等** (děng) means both "to wait" (我**等**你 = I wait for you) and "etc." (房子、汽车**等** = house, car, etc.)
* **角** (jiǎo) means both "corner" (三角形有三个**角** = triangles have three corners) and "0.1 yuan" (一元等于十**角** = one yuan equals 10 jiao)
* **读** (dú) means both "to study" (**读**科学 = study science) and "to read" (**读**书 = read a book)
* **贵** (guì) means both "expensive" (太**贵**了 = too expensive) and "precious" (很**贵**的宝宝 = precious baby)

Sometimes they also have different pronunciations:

* **还** means both "still" [pronounced hái] (你**还**爱我吗? = do you still love me?) and "to return" [pronounced huán] (我**还**了车 = I returned the car)
* **只** means "only" [pronounced zhǐ] (我**只**是一个人) and is a measure word for certain animals [pronounced zhī] (一**只**鸟 = a bird)

Some of the above examples have additional meanings.


---

