How do you enter a half comma (顿号, dùnhào) with Google Pinyin IME and a French keyboard I have a laptop with a UK English version of Windows and a French keyboard (azerty ...). I have been using the Google Pinyin IME for some time now but I can't figure out how to enter a "half comma" (顿号, dùnhào, i.e. this type of comma: 、). There are explanations for non-azerty keyboards (e.g. at LaoshiLink) but I haven't found any for French keyboards. (I did a web search in French but I wasn't lucky.)

Since I figured it out after some more searching and trying, here is the answer:

After starting Google Pinyin IME, right-click on the keyboard button (软键盘 ruǎnjiànpán: software keyboard). From the menu that appears, choose 标点符号 (biāodiǎn fúhào: punctuation marks). This will bring up a keyboard on the screen; the dun comma is on the top row, on the same key as the number 2. You can than enter the dun comma using either the software keyboard or your hardware keyboard. You can then close the software keyboard again by clicking on the keyboard button.

Unfortunately, I am not aware of keyboard shortcuts to do this.


what are common contractions in classical chinese? I am searching for contractions in classical Chinese.
for example:
而已 ---contracts-to---> 耳.

Liebe Grüsse an die süsse Teresa!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contraction_%28grammar%29#Chinese gives the following (just copied it in):

諸 = 之乎 (In some rarer cases 諸 can also be contraction for 有之乎. 諸 can be used on its own with the meaning of "all, the class of", as in 諸侯 "the feudal lords.")
焉 = 於之 (於之 is never used; only 焉.)
旃 = 之焉 (Rare.)
爰 = 于之 (Rare. The prepositions 於, 于, and 乎 are of different origin, but used interchangeably (except that 乎 can also be used as a final question particle).)
然 = 如之
云 = 曰之
弗 = 不之
勿 = 毋之 (弗 and 勿 were originally not contractions, but were reanalyzed as contractions in the Warring States period.)
耳 = 而已
盍 = 胡不 (胡 is a variant of 何.)
與 = 也乎 (Also written 歟.)
邪 = 也乎 (Also written 耶. Probably a dialectal variant of 與.)
夫 = 不乎 (夫 has many other meanings.)
奈何 = 若之何


Do the notations ⅃⅃⅃ ___ LLL mean anything? There are some notations above the characters:

⅃⅃⅃ ___ LLL
大      人    国

Do these notations mean anything?

I found a more clear picture. I think they are not letters or characters. They are only decoration for the "大人国". The reason is the angle of view of your picture.You can see your picture carefully again.


Could you please confirm or provide a better translation for this? I'm trying to translate to my native language the content of this image:

Here's the translation I have available (not made by me, unfortunately I don't know Chinese so I have to rely on what I find online):

"Do you have to act so surprised that I've finally made it?"

I'm looking for a better translation (if there is) of the "act surprised" part.

Thanks in advance!

Do you have to act so surprised that I've finally made it?

You have finally become successful. You tell someone. This person is surprised.

Within the context, I don't think Chinese would need the last part 'that I've finally made it'

你有必要表现得这么惊讶吗？
Do you have to act so surprised?

But if you really want the last part, try putting it first:

我最终的成功真的让你这么惊讶吗？
That I've finally made it really surprises you that much?

Edit: with the vpn on, I could see your picture.

你们俩看到我这个体育渣自己跑上来吓傻了。
You two, seeing me, a physical wreck, run up here on my own, I bet that scared you silly!


Does 溺水 only mean "to drown" in relation to water? Can I use "溺水" for liquids other than water? How would you say: he drowned in Coca-cola?

Although you can not say 溺可乐, you can say 溺死在可乐中, which is more romantic anyway.

溺于可乐 is acceptable, because now it is not a fixed word but a sentence.


Why is 說 translated as "pleasant" in Confucius's Analects? In the beginning of the Analects, Confucius writes:
學而時習之， 不亦說乎
I would translate it as "to learn and take time practising,
is it not said? (spoken)?"
Yet everywhere it is translated as pleasant. Why?

說 is the original 悅, they mean the same thing. It's only because in different times, different character may be used to represent the same thing. This situation of different character used is called 古今字. Check this(Chinese Wikipedia).

To back this up, consult (清)段玉裁《說文解字注》

  説釋也。説釋卽悦懌。説悦釋懌皆古今字。許書無悦懌二字也。説釋者，開解之意。故爲喜悦。釆部曰。釋，解也。从言。兑聲。儿部曰。兑，説也。本周易。此從言兑會意。兑亦聲。弋雪切。十五部。一曰談説。此本無二義二音。疑後增此四字。别音爲失䑔切。

So as to why it's 說, it's because when you explain something (說釋->說明解釋) to someone, he or she will be happy because the you resolve (開解) their question.

Master Sparkles, I don't think call it stand-in word is appropriate since it's just the correct usage at that time. (Sorry I can't comment so I have to reply here)


Do people use 但愿 nowadays? Quick question: I heard my teacher recently use the term  但愿 - which apparently means to "Wish that they had/something happened". The example give was " 他们但愿我也是从湘西来的”
Is this normally used in conversation? Could I, for example, say "我但愿上哈佛的商学院？”  or does this only refer to things that have happened in the past?

Thanks!

While both terms express the idea of "hoping", 但愿 is more for "wishing".

但愿我能上哈佛商学院 I wish I could attend Harvard Business School, (but it's a long shot.)

希望我能上哈佛商学院 I hope I can attend Harvard Business School. (We do not know the speaker's odds of gaining admission from this sentence alone.)

An example I can think of is 但願人長久，千里共嬋娟, loosely translated as “I wish we will  live long so we can admire the autumn moon at the same time though we may be miles apart from each other." In this example, how long a person will live is out of the poet's control. He can only wish that it happens.


Why did the actor pronounce 程, "du" instead of "cheng"? To improve my Chinese listening, I decided to watch 天下一碗 (Tian Xia Yi Wan), as actors tend to speak with very precise and clear tones.

In the link, Liu laoye says:

  "如果是一时意气用事的话, 岂不是耽误了子女的前程了吗".

I do not know why 程 is pronounced "du" here? is it a typo?

(But 前度 does not make sense to me either).

It's 前途 (qian tu) which has pretty much the same meaning as 前程. Probably a typo in the subtitle or the actor said it differently from the script, the director thought it was fine, but the subtitle comes from the script.


What does 上 mean as in 抱歉我没帮上忙? I could roughly understand the meaning of the sentence.

  Sorry, I didn't help much.

By the simple Chinese-English dictionary, 上 means

up
get on
good
superior

There are tons of meanings by the advanced dictionary. I couldn't figure it out.

上 denotes this sense:

  （用在动词后， 表示动作的结果）(Used after a verb to indicate its result)  E.g. 穿上外衣; 考上大学

我没帮上忙 means (the result is that) I have been being helpless.. It's not a word for word translation though.


Can separable verbs be with 得? I have two question involving 得. Please help me out.

I wonder if separable verbs (verb + object) can be with 得 without repeating the first verb. For example,

  她吃饭吃得很多。or 她饭吃得很多。

Because 吃饭 is a separable verb, so can I say: 她吃饭得很多 ?

In YES/NO question with 得, are degree adverbs needed?

  A: 你今天起得很早/早吗？

Thank you so much!

1.can I say: 她吃饭得很多?

No, If you use 得 with separable verb, you have to either 1. Repeat the first part of the separable verb, e.g. 她吃饭吃得很多.(meaning she can eat a lot rice)  2. put 得 between the separable verb. e.g. "她吃得饭多" (meaning she ate a lot of rice or she eat rice very often)
"她饭吃得很多" has no separable verb (the only verb is 吃;  饭 is the object
More Example:

讀書，唱歌，喝酒 are all separable verbs
她讀得書多，所以不怕找不到工作 (得 is inserted between the verb and object part of 讀書)
她唱得歌多，聲音也變得好聽了 (得 is inserted between the verb and object part of 唱歌)
她喝得酒多，說話有點含糊 (得 is inserted between the verb and object part of 喝酒)

~

她書讀得多，所以不怕找不到工作 (no separable verb, 書 is the object, 讀 is the verb)
她歌唱得多，聲音也變得好聽了 (no separable verb, 歌 is the object, 唱 is the verb)
她酒喝得多，說話有點含糊 (no separable verb, 酒 is the object, 喝 is the verb)

~

2.are degree adverbs needed?

It is optional
Both 我今天起得早 (I woke up early today) and  我今天起得很早 (I woke up very early today) are legit sentences


Chengyu with two numbers There are chengyu with two numbers in them, for example:

一穷二白 (一, 二)
万众一心 (万, 一)
七上八下 (七, 八)
九五至尊 (九, 五)

But it seems that the selection of numbers is not completely random, and that certain numbers tend to have certain connotations.
My questions are:

What are the number-pairs, and what meanings are they usually used for?
Are there deeper cultural or historical reasons for these number-meanings?

I may answer to the first part of the question. I did a script to search all 4 characters ChengYu with your requirements. Here a resume about their number and the exaustive result from my db (ccdict).

一一(26)
一二(13)
一三(5)
一四(1)
一万(2)
一九(1)
一十(5)
二一(2)
二三(1)
二五(1)
二八(1)
二六(1)
二四(2)
三一(2)
三七(1)
三九(3)
三二(1)
三五(6)
三六(5)
三四(21)
四五(2)
四八(4)
五一(1)
五七(2)
五八(2)
五六(4)
五十(3)
五四(1)
六三(1)
六八(1)
六四(2)
七八(14)
七四(1)
八八(1)
九一(3)
九六(1)
十万(1)
十九(2)
十八(2)
十十(1)
万一(2)
万八(1)

Seems like 一一(26) , 三四(21) , 七八(14) , 一二(13) are the most common. Follows the complete (possibly not exhaustive) list.

一一(26)
    一东一西
    一丝一毫
    一中一台
    一举一动
    一五一十
    一分一毫
    一唱一和
    一夫一妻
    一字一泪
    一心一德
    一心一意
    一惊一乍
    一房一厅
    一朝一夕
    一板一眼
    一模一样
    一步一趋
    一点一滴
    一点一点
    一琴一鹤
    一生一世
    一瘸一拐
    一言一动
    一言一行
    一递一个
    一递一声
一万(2)
    一本万利
    以一驭万
一三(5)
    一日三秋
    一日三餐
    一板三眼
    一波三折
    举一反三
一九(1)
    一言九鼎
一二(13)
    一干二净
    一式二份
    一心二用
    一来二去
    一清二楚
    一清二白
    一石二鸟
    一穷二白
    划一不二
    数一数二
    独一无二
    臣一主二
    说一不二
一十(5)
    一暴十寒
    一曝十寒
    一目十行
    假一赔十
    闻一知十
一四(1)
    一年四季
七八(14)
    七七八八
    七上八下
    七嘴八张
    七嘴八舌
    七扭八歪
    七拼八凑
    七爷八爷
    七老八十
    七荤八素
    七零八碎
    七零八落
    夹七夹八
    杂七杂八
    横七竖八
七四(1)
    七政四余
万一(2)
    万众一心
    万无一失
万八(1)
    万儿八千
三一(2)
    三位一体
    周三径一
三七(1)
    三魂七魄
三九(3)
    三教九流
    三旬九食
    三跪九叩
三二(1)
    三心二意
三五(6)
    三令五申
    三侠五义
    三番五次
    三皇五帝
    三纲五常
    隔三差五
三六(5)
    三亲六故
    三十六计
    三头六臂
    三姑六婆
    三茶六饭
三四(21)
    三从四德
    三催四请
    三朋四友
    不三不四
    丢三落四
    传三过四
    低三下四
    再三再四
    勾三搭四
    巴三览四
    张三李四
    挑三拣四
    挑三窝四
    推三阻四
    朝三暮四
    横三竖四
    狂三诈四
    说三道四
    调三窝四
    连三并四
    颠三倒四
九一(3)
    九九归一
    九死一生
    九牛一毛
九六(1)
    九声六调
二一(2)
    二十一条
    二十一点
二三(1)
    接二连三
二五(1)
    二十五史
二八(1)
    二十八宿
二六(1)
    二十六岁
二四(2)
    二十四史
    二十四孝
五一(1)
    五七一代
五七(2)
    五劳七伤
    五痨七伤
五八(2)
    五花八门
    五行八作
五六(4)
    五脏六腑
    五颜六色
    人五人六
    吆五喝六
五十(3)
    一五一十
    五代十国
    五光十色
五四(1)
    五湖四海
八八(1)
    八荣八耻
六三(1)
    六韬三略
六八(1)
    六合八法
六四(2)
    六十四万
    六十四卦
十万(1)
    六十四万
十九(2)
    十成九稳
    十拿九稳
十八(2)
    十之八九
    十有八九
十十(1)
    十全十美
四五(2)
    四分五裂
    四舍五入
四八(4)
    四平八稳
    四通八达
    四邻八舍
    四面八方


Handwriting 行書 semi-cursive online Hi is there any website where we can input a chinese character and watch how it is written (the process) in 行書 semi-cursive form, and not how it is written in the normal "formal" stroke. In order to know exactly how it is handwritten in semi-cursive.

Regards,

That is called 行书字典, here is
http://tool.wikichina.com/shufa/

书法字典 always show brush writings, but it works for pen writing too, the character forms are not change too much except the simplification.

For example, I searched 书法, this is the part of the results.

Nowadays, most people write 书 as similar to the first one(wrote by 颜真卿).

I would write like this on paper. So the dictionary works for pen writings.


What is the meaning behind 华胄 ? I found the sentence 他是华胄，所以气质不凡. It is been translated as "He is the offspring of a noble family, thus his character is not a common one". I also found for 华胄  the translation "offspring of the huaxia" and simply "chinese".

Verbatim, 华胄 would be "chinese helmet", "flowery helmet", "illustrous helmet".

Obviously the word is a metaphor,
what was is its original meaning and what does it imply culturally as a metaphor ?

胄 (由 + 月) means descendants, whereas 冑 (a different character, 由 + 冃) means helmet. Since they look similar, they got merged.

华胄 means either of Han lineage or of noble descent.

There is no word 华冑, which would mean Chinese helmet.


What do you call your father's twin brother? I'm a mid-level Chinese student.  I have two younger brothers, who are twins.  One brother is married to a Chinese woman, and they have a young son.

The son calls me 姑姑 and my husband 姑丈.  My sister-in-law's younger brother, his maternal uncle, is 舅舅.  So far, so good!  My question is, what should he call my other brother, his paternal uncle?

The trick is that we don't know which twin is older.  Our parents refused to tell us growing up to avoid fostering (more) power plays, and now claim to have forgotten.  We can't be the first family in history to have siblings that aren't fully ordered, but we can't figure out if there's an accepted word for a twin uncle in this scenario, or we should just pick whichever of 伯伯 or 叔叔 we like better.

How about 伯叔? That is an actual thing when you don't want to specify the age.

See here:
https://www.moedict.tw/%E4%BC%AF%E5%8F%94


Any record of a "扌笨" character anywhere? So I got this entry in my copy of 成都方言

  "扌笨" ben ①蘸调料：紧倒～（佐料），不嫌咸了嗦？ ②扳动，扯拉：猴子逮到绳绳儿架势～。

I tried looking for this "扌笨" character:

I did a zisea.com 两分 search

with no results.

I did a zdic 字典 笔顺 search of "12131431412341" (扌 = 121 笨 = 31431412341)

with no results.

I don't think that this 马骥 is any sort of academic, of any sort, seeing as the dictionary (if you can call it that) doesn't even have any sort of tones markings or notations at all.

Maybe this character was just completely made up by the editors?

As a native speaker of sichuanese,  I strongly suspect there is or has been such a character. Obviously this character follows the rule of 形声 and I believe it's coined by the editors or researchers. In my ordinary life, I also pronounce that sound when I express these meanings and speak in Sichuanese, but when it comes to writing, I use other "standard" characters. For example, 拌 for the first and 挣 for the second.

Also, maybe the correct character is 拌 and the standard pronunciation is changed to ben4 in Sichuanese. For example, in Sichuanese, we say dia1, meaning to hold something vertically or to lift something. The pronunciation dia 1 even doesn't exist in standard Chinese. Wikipedia shows the correct character is 提.  I'm not a linguist, but this could happen to ben 4 as well.


What does 其实也没什么 mean? Link is here (7th answer from the top), and here's the context:

  讲一个我朋友的故事，他10多年前开这个车。(image)
  没错，松花江小面。其实也没什么，10多年前有个车还算不错了。可这个朋友有个癖好，就是喜欢去五星级酒店或者饭店品茶，吃个早点。

Can anyone explain the grammar, meaning and usage of this phrase? Thanks in advance!

其实也没什么 literally means "in fact, there is nothing".
其实 = in fact
也没 = not quite
什么 = something. ->也没什么 = "there's nothing"

The reason why Chinese is hard is because of its high flexibility. As the previous answer indicated, this phrase skipped something.

"(其实也)没什么" usually connects with "大不了的(a big deal)", "了不起的(amazing, extraordinary)", or other phrases/words with feelings (e.g.: "没什么好玩/吃的" = "There's (or that's) nothing fun/delicious at all"). The reason why this should be interpreted as "没什么了不起的/大不了的 (there's nothing extraordinary/big at all)" is because of the context.

讲一个我朋友的故事，他10多年前开这个车。没错，松花江小面。 Translation: "(I'm gonna) tell a story of my friend, he used to drive this car more than ten years ago. That's right, a van made by SongHuaJiang (manufacter)."

This van is currently almost obsolete, and this van is very cheap in China, and I would say it is one of the cheapest car in China. However, it is hard to own a car many years ago when people were not that rich, so it was a great honor to have a car at that time, even a car so cheap with a bad quality.

10多年前有个车还算不错了。可这个朋友有个癖好，就是喜欢去五星级酒店或者饭店品茶，吃个早点。 Translation: It is not bad to have a car more than 10 years ago. However, this friend had a fondness - always likes to go to 5-star hotels to have some tea and breakfast.

Therefore, this is a contrast - although his friend owned a car at that time, which is not easy at that time, this car is not a good car at all and he still go to 5-star hotels and eat breakfast (which indicates that this friend was showing off). Therefore, he would say that "It's not something extraordinary".


In Taiwanese place names, how are 宮 vs. 寺 used? While exploring Taiwan (Taipei and Sanchong specifically), I've seen many Buddhist temples named with 宮, and on maps there also seem to be some named with 寺.

What is the difference between (from what I can tell) a Buddhist 宮 and a Buddhist 寺? I recognize the latter character, from Japanese, as "temple"; the former I haven't really seen before.

佛寺 = Buddhist temple
道觀 = Taoist temple
宮 = palace
神社/ 神宮 = shrine
廟 = temple (polytheism)

Searching 'Taiwan Buddhist temples' and I found a list.
Many entries with the name 宮  in it are labeled as 'Buddhist temples' but they are in fact,  temples for individual gods in Chinese polytheism
For example:
大龍峒保安宮 (Dalongdong Baoan Temple)
You can see the idol is a Chinese god, not Buddha.

松山慈祐宮 (Ciyou Temple)
The photo from its web site clearly showed 燒衣 and 求簽 equipment. Buddhist temples do not have that.

台北天后宮  (Taipei Tianhou Temple) is a place to worship '天后', it is in the temple's name
大龍峒保安宮, 松山慈祐宮 and 台北天后宮 are not Buddhist temples but Chinese polytheism temples
In Japan, shrine are called 神社, 神宮,  Since Taiwan has deep tie to Japanese culture, using 宮 in temples name is understandable


Why do Chinese people say 一孕傻三年？ Just the other day, I heard this '一孕傻三年'. Does anyone have an inkling as to why Chinese people think this?

Since I don't have enough reputation to comment

It's not only in Chinese culture, it's called "baby brain" http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/pregnancy-week-by-week/expert-answers/baby-brain/faq-20057896


What does "中" as an independent verb means? I found one 明星 saying this on Youtube: "我中了，我中了." ； https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4egudxwbdI  (4:27)。I have tried asking this to tutor online, and he answered: 中 means:
-to hit (the mark)
-to be hit by
-to suffer
-to win (a prize, a lottery)
And gave me a website that states exactly that, but doesn't have an example for the independent use and meaning of 中. So, I wonder, what does 中 mean in such context?  Can 中 act as a verb in itself??

中 = to win:
中獎 = win a prize
中頭獎 = win the first prize
中大獎 = win the grand prize
中安慰獎 = win the consolation prize
中二奬 = win the second prize
中彩票 = win lottery
中頭獎彩票 = win the lottery jackpot
中二獎彩票 = win the second prize lottery
獎 in 中獎 is always referring to prize by chance; Not to be confused with 得獎/獲獎 (win award) which the prize or award is always on merit
中 = to take/ be hit by:
中槍 = 1. take/ hit by a gunshot; 2. take (hit by) a (long) spear trust
中彈 = take/ hit by a bullet strike
中刀 = take/ hit by a knife strike
中劍 = take/ hit by a sword strike
中錘 = take/ hit by a hammer strike
中拳 = take/ hit by a (fist) punch
中腿 = take/ hit by a (leg) kick
take/ hit by any object above cause harm, therefore, 中 can also be understood as 'to suffer'
Example in longer sentence:
今期彩票誰中? - who won the lottery this time?
旗艦中了三枚魚雷下沈 - The flagship took (was hit by) three torpedoes and sunk
Notice:
As an adjective or a noun 中 is pronounced as /zhong1/ in Mandarin and /zung1/ in Cantonese
As a verb, 中 is pronounced as /zhong4/ in Mandarin and /zung4/ in Cantonese


Google translation of English subtitles gives other Chinese words - what exactly was said, what dialect? I wanted to listen to the words as spoken by other person, but Google translation of English subtitles gave other Chinese words (by sounds).

What exactly was said (Chinese characters), what dialect? Why translation gave almost all differently?

Subtitles "fulfillment, happiness and security", translation by google to traditional (for simplified voice sounded the same) 充實，幸福和安全
Chōngshí, xìngfú hé ānquán.

Original: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKn--8Dy9O8&t=466

“获得感、幸福感、安全感” were the exact Mandarin words spoken by Xi Jinping. Google doesn’t necessarily translate based on context, and often translates word-for-word, garbling up the meaning of the entire sentence.


Glyph origin or Word Etymology Resources I know this topic has - kind of - been discussed over here:
  What etymology dictionaries are available?

(In order to avoid seeming like I'm advertising for anyone I will refrain from mentioning where I heard this but...)

I once heard an explanation of the character 取 talking about how it came from the character 馘 (meaning: to cut off the left ear of the slain in battle) - and how the meaning of 馘 is visually represented in the character 取 (an ear + a hand) now meaning 'to take'

Where would one go to find this type of etymological explanations?

zdic.net is an authoritative resource: http://www.zdic.net/z/16/xs/53D6.htm

会意。从又,从耳。甲骨文字形。左边是耳朵,右边是手(又),合起来表示用手割耳朵。古代作战,以割取敌人尸体首级或左耳以计数献功。本义:[捕获到野兽或战俘时]割下左耳。

However, I don't think it is true that 取 developed from 聝 and 馘, they have always been separate characters, even though Shuowen (same site) indicates that 取 has also been used in that sense: 捕取也。从又从耳。《周禮》：“獲者取左耳。”《司馬法》曰：“載獻聝。”聝者，耳也。七庾切。


Meaning of "绽开来" in 这句话让她脸上的皱纹菊花般绽开来? 她的话音刚落,一直在旁边默默无语的老公说道:“我们就是后一种。”这句话让她脸上的皱纹菊花般绽开来。"

Just after she spoke, her husband who'd been staying in silence beside her said, "We're the latter kind." This remark made the wrinkles on her face...?

Mmm, I really couldn't understand this. Does it mean open/smoothen? If that's the case, why's is said to be "like chrysanthemum?"

绽, 绽放, means bloom/blossom.

皱纹菊花般绽开来 means the wrinkles bloom like chrysanthemum, which is used to describe smile here.

To be honest, using 绽放 instead sounds more natural to me.


How to phrase "You know what they say? [quote]" in Chinese? When giving some kind of saying or folklore knowledge, in English we often say e.g.:

You know what they say?  Two heads are better than one.

I want to say something similar in Chinese:

You know what they say?  天不怕地不怕，就怕老外说中国话！

I find this an amusing rhyme, and it usually gets a laugh.  However, I'm not sure what to preface it with.  YouDao uses semi-literal translations:

你知道他们说...
Nǐ zhīdào tāmen shuō...
你知道他们怎么说...
Nǐ zhīdào tāmen zěnme shuō...

But I don't know if this is actually used by Chinese speakers (outside of translations from English).  Perhaps it's Engnese (reverse Chinglish) to say this, and there's a more appropriate phrase in Chinese.
Question: How to phrase "You know what they say? [quote]" in Chinese?

你知道他们说的什么吗

你知道他们怎么说吗

are common phrases， but not for this context。

Depends on the type of the quote， you can use

俗话说/老话说/有句话叫：folk saying

古语有云 （classical saying）

X曰 （quote from ancient scholar）

XX说 （common phrase）

A: 俗话说： 三个臭皮匠， 顶一个诸葛亮（Two heads are better than one）

B：有句话叫： 人多手乱。

A：古人云：多多益善。

B：子曰：你说得不对。

A: 高尔基说： 子没说过。


How do you say mixer in chinese? I was wondering how to say and write mixer in Chinese? This is the type of mixer I'm asking about:

For a general and literal translation, the answer is exactly what @Tang Ho had mentioned： 搅拌机

However, in regard to the specific type of model you referred, 打蛋器 Eggbeater may be a better translation with less ambiguity in daily life.

That is because, 搅拌机 is often interpreted as something like:

while by searching 打蛋器, the following content can be most likely found:


How is 卻 & 接受 used in John 1:5 CUV? In the CUV Chinese translation of the New Testament, at John 1:5 we have:

  光照在黑暗裡，黑暗卻不接受光。
  The light shines in the dark, the dark retreats and does not receive the light.

The above is my best understanding of what the Chinese says in-and-of itself.

Looking at parallel passages we see, from the older and more conservative KJV:

  5 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

and this from the newer NIV:

  5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

The above CUV excerpt, as I understand it, is a bit different from the KJV & NIV.

Where have I made my mistake in reading the above passage?

If my understanding of the Chinese is correct and not wrong, then the Chinese is closer to the Greek IMO. I've probably made a mistake, though.

卻 in this context means 'however' or 'but', serves to connect the two phrases.

光照在黑暗裡 (The light shines in the dark)，黑暗不接受光 (the dark does not receive the light.)

光照在黑暗裡，黑暗[卻]不接受光 (The light shines in the darkness, [however], the darkness does not receive the light)


表达 vs. 表现 vs. 表示 vs. 显示 These four words all express (get it, because they all mean express ha ha ha) similar meanings: to express/show/display/manifest/demonstrate/convey/indicate etc. I'm sure there are subtle differences between these form words in terms of formality, usage, and semantics, but I'm not sure what they are. Perhaps some place more emphasis on "expressing" (ideas, for example) while others place more emphasis on "showing/displaying" (displaying one's wealth, for example)?

I would greatly appreciate you could express your opinions and knowledge (I am so sorry) on this issue, assuming you didn't already uninstall your browser after reading this.

表达, to express
他表达了他的爱意。to express something, used for expressions
表现, verb: to show, to perform. noun: behavior
verb 他表现出了他的才华。he has shown his talents.
noun 他的表现不是很好。 his behavior is not very good.
表示 means ...
这表示他喜欢你。this means that he likes you.
显示 to display or show.
手机能显示图片。phones can display/show pictures.
hope this helps.


Is 笨蛋 a derogatory word? I have been frequently told 笨蛋 by my friend when we chat in WeChat. The meaning of 笨蛋 is stupid or idiot.

However, while we are friends, I wonder whether she uses the term to swear at me or otherwise she is angry with me. Well, sometimes she didn't respond to me after saying the word. It is not to the degree that our relationship gets broken though, as we can continue the conversation in another day.

Is the word 笨蛋 used in such situations or can it be used in more casual situation as well to make fun of the other person? What kind of nuances does it have?

Think of the phrase "You fool!" or "you idiot" -  depend on the relationship between the two people, the reason behind saying that, and the tone of the speech, it can be a playful, affectionate flirt,  or a contemptuous comment.

笨蛋 is such a word.

Of course it is a degrading term. But 笨蛋 is not a word of hate in general. Only best friends would call each other fool or idiot casually.


What does 5以内 mean in 数学作业要在3分钟之内完成90道5以内的加减法题? 数学作业要在3分钟之内完成90道5以内的加减法题

I can understand it as:

  The Math homework (you) must complete 90 questions of addition and subtraction within 3 minutes under 5. (what the heck?)

What does 5以内 mean in this sentence?

It means questions that only involves positive numbers no larger than 5. For example, asking questions like "2+2=?" or "4-3=?".


Why the sudden rise in usage of "吓死宝宝了"? 吓死宝宝了

All of a sudden this "phrase" (if we can even call it that) is everywhere. I'm reading it, hearing it and seeing it everywhere.

What gives to the sudden rise in usage of this expression?

I think it's because of the Internet, which made this sentence popular. There was once a boy in Sina Weibo (China's version of Twitter) who sent a threat to a girl. The girl on Sina Weibo replied to express her dissatisfaction. The message was "吓死宝宝了".

It soon got around on Weibo. Many people were talking about this. So now many people use this sentence to express their discontent by force or threat.


What’s the difference between 二五 and 二十五? Can I just say 二五 when I’m talking or counting instead of 二十五? Will it make a difference between the two of them? Or is it because 二五 is like everyday speech (informal) and 二十五 (formal) for writing?
I watched 奔跑吧第 “Keep Running” show in order to learn and improve my chinese. I remembered in one of the episode of the show, the members were counting without 十 between numbers. I’m trying to learn the “everyday” chinese by watching chinese dramas and variety shows in order to improve my comprehension and speech.

the members were counting without 十 between numbers.

This is exactly where the "十" can be completely omitted, when one is counting. It is quite normal to omit the "十" after passing 20 when counting, especially when one is counting fast.
I cannot recall other circumstances when the "十" can be omitted.
Also, one might drop the hundred part completely after 100, starting from 一 again. The hundred part is may be only included when a whole hundred is reached. E.g. 九七, 九八, 九九, 一百, 一, 二, 三, 四, ......, 九七, 九八, 九九, 二百, 一, 二,  三, 四, ...... The hundred part is memorized instead of spoken out. (Sometimes one might use fingers to keep track of the number of hundreds)
Disclaimer: I am a native Chinese speaker in Beijing. This may differ in different regions or in different dialects.


When does 给 object come before a verb, and when does it come after? If there is a more general principle at work here, I'd love to know, so I can find more resources. For many verbs, if there's an object, you use 给 beforehand.

给他打电话

For some, you can do it before or after

给他送

送给她

The other day in class, I tried to say

给我证明

and was told I should have said

证明给我看

I'm not doubting my teacher, I'm just trying to find a bit more rhyme and reason to how objects works.

In general:

  When 给 is placed before a verb, it means 'for'. And it has a 'demanding or asserted tone' to it.

给我打!= Beat (him) for me!

给他送 = give/ send (it) for him

给我证明 = prove (it) for me

  When 给 is placed after a verb, it means 'to'

送给她 = give/send (it) to her

证明给我看 = prove (it) to me


What could these characters i found on a robe mean? I guess the first character is 福 meaning good fortune
And the second character is 得 meaning to gain but i have no clue what the third character should represent.
I not even remotely sure about my character guesses nor their meaning

What are the characters present in the picture and what do they mean?

You are right for the first character.
However, the second character is not 得. It is 禄 and means "official salary". The thrid character, 寿, means "life" or "age".
Combined together, 福禄寿 generally represents fortune or prosperity, high status or position, and longevity. It was originated from 道教 (Taoism). You can find more explaination here on Wikipedia about Sanxing.


Parsing grammar of 你是怎么学习汉语的？ To my knowledge 是 means "is" and the usage of 的 that I am familiar with is that it is like a possession particle. I don't understand how either character functions in the following sentence:

你是怎么学习汉语的？
Nǐ shì zěnme xuéxí hànyǔ de?
How do you study Chinese?

If I took a blind stab at translating the English to Chinese, I would have went with something like

你怎么学习汉语？

Is this attempt incorrect?

How do I understand the grammar of the original Chinese sentence?

This is one of those questions that a native speaker with a sound grammatical knowledge might be able to answer better, but from my point of view (as a native speaker with little grammatical knowledge), I think the best way to explain would be to show what the difference is to the listener.

As you may or may not know, the particle 是 is not always necessary from a grammatical perspective, especially when there is no ambiguity around the various components of the sentence, so grammatically both

你是怎么学习汉语的？AND 你怎么学习汉语？are fine.

If someone asked you 你是怎么学习汉语的？(i.e. you are not reading this sentence from a page of a book), then it is more likely that they are putting an emphasis on the process in which you have managed to learn/acquire the language.

However, 你怎么学习汉语？can mean one of two things:

How do you study Chinese? OR
How come you study Chinese? (as opposed to studying Japanese)

In fact, 你是怎么学习汉语的？can also have this second meaning, but this would fall into the category of a very awkward way of asking this question, which is more natural without the 是 if you want to imply this meaning.

The only way to be certain is to ascertain the exact context of the sentence/conversation (as is often the case with some Asian languages).

Example sentences:

有很多不同的语言, 你怎么学习汉语的？
There are many different languages, how come you study Chinese?

有很多不同的语言, 你是怎么学习汉语的？
Probably should be using 为什么 instead of 怎么 when accompanied by 是

你说的很流利, 你是怎么学习汉语的？
You speak fluently, how do you study Chinese?


What is the origin of the character 对/對? I've been studying the etymology of characters lately, and I'm stuck trying to figure out how 对/對 is formed.

It is apparently a compound of 丵 (zhuó; grass, bush) and 寸 (cùn; inch, thumb), plus an extra horizontal stroke at the bottom left of 對, which various sources have different explanations as coming from 口, 士, or 土.

Neither the modern nor Old Chinese pronunciations of 對 (/tuːbs/) resemble any of the possible components: 丵 (/zroːwɢ/), 寸 (/shuːns/), 口 (/kʰoːʔ/), 士 (/zrɯʔ/), 土 (/l̥ʰaːʔ/). This seems to indicate that 對 is not a phonosemantic compound (形声).

But it also doesn't seem to be an associative compound (会意) either, since none of the components seem to be related to any of the meanings of 對.

So how is 對 formed?

well, to make a reasonable guess; have a look of 漢語多功能字庫, please.

對 (u+5c0d) is a character since 甲骨文 (oracle bone script), which is composed by component "丵" (u+4e35), "土" (u+571f), &  "又 - 手" (又 originally means right hand).

3 pictures of 對 in oracle bone script:

then, 丵 in small seal script (i can't find this one in oracle bone script at this moment)

土 in oracle bone script

又 - 手 in oracle bone script

the synopsis in this page is:

手持工具開闢土地

the initial meaning of 對 is "using hand (又 - 手) tools (丵) to develop land (土)".

later, in 金文 (bronze script), the form of 對 is slightly changed:

闢地分疆﹒植樹於土﹒立下地界

the meaning of 對 at this time is "planting tree along the boundary of the newly developed land"

with nowadays technology, one might think of "building a fence to protect an area" (e.g. set up barbed wire fence to encircle a farm)

then,

後假借為應對、應答之意

對 was "borrowed" to have the meaning of "response", "reply" or "answer"; which matches of the first two explanations in 國語辭典

http://dict.revised.moe.edu.tw/cgi-bin/cbdic/gsweb.cgi?o=dcbdic&searchid=W00000002366

imo, chopping "對" into "業" & "寸"; errh . . . . "off course" :(

imo, quoting "帝作邦作對" to support the above meaning is appealing.

here's the poem 皇矣 ( with James Legge's english translation)

作之屏之﹒其菑其翳
脩之平之﹒其灌其栵
啟之辟之﹒其檉其椐
攘之剔之﹒其檿其柘

verses in the second group is, opened up, made clearing in forest, paved the area.

then, in third group:

帝省其山﹒柞棫斯拔﹒松柏斯兌

柞 has the meaning of "chop down trees"

帝作邦作對

邦 has the meaning of "planting tree as boundary", similar to 對. imo, "作邦作對" is rhetoric,  a "writing in pair". in modern chinese, we still have the saying: 作威作福, or, 作福作威

next, 業 is character since bronze script, which is a 象形字 (pictogram) of "rack for hanging bell, musical instruments". here're 2 samples of 業:

imo, 業 is, unlikely, derived from 對 or 丵.


Can 偷工减料 be used to describe the intentional and open purchasing of somewhat inferior product? I know that 偷工减料 is frequently used to describe intentionally (and perhaps secret) shoddy construction. When I translate it, I usually say "Cut corners". However, I think 偷工减料 has a very negative connotation, whereas "cut corners" has a somewhat less negative connotation.

Does 偷工减料 have a much more negative connotation than "cut corners"?

Can I use 偷工减料 to describe intentionally purchasing inferior product that everyone knows about? For example, let's say that an IT department purchases a lower-end computer rather than a high-end (and perhaps more up to an acceptable standard) computer. They do so publicly and with everyone's knowledge. Can I call this "偷工减料"?

偷工减料 means shoddy/poor workmanship and lousy/substandard materials. It is not something you would use to describe intentionally buying something that is inferior or less expensive. It is by nature something that is deceptive or dishonest or even corrupt and dangerous. It is more severe than cutting corners, which is sometimes associated with the term "cost down" if cost reduction is being done dishonestly.


Stroke direction of the 舌 radical in 舒 In the 舌 radical the first stroke is right to left but inside 舒 it is left to right. Why?

I know some characters where the stroke order changes when it is a radical (e.g. the 牛 in 物) but I haven't encountered a case so far where the stroke direction changes.

Does this happen for other characters too?

I think you are making something wrong. In Chinese characters, there are many different kinds of strokes 横（一）、竖（丨）、撇（丿）、点（丶）、捺（㇏）、折（亅）. Directions are only one of the differences. If you only cares about its directions, you cannot write the strokes properly.

In the ancient China, people use ink brushes instead of pens or pencils, and ink brushes are more easily to express the strengths when writing (notice the difference in width of different part in a stroke).

The phenomenon you have mentioned is not the change of direction, but change of strokes instead. In 舌->舒, 横撇 turns to 横, while in 牛->物, 横 turns to 提(㇀).

Reference:
http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%AC%94%E7%94%BB


Multiple characters for the same sound in Chinese In chinese mandarin, why does Chinese language has multiple characters for the same sound? What is the reason?

Firstly, you need to know that the phonetic system of Ancient Chinese is far more complicated than today. Generally, the number of syllables in Chinese decrease over the time.
According to Wikipedia, Ancient Chinese have about 70 initials (including consonants and clustered consonants) and dozens of rhymes (including vowels and vowel combinations), which could resemble thousands (or tens of thousands of) syllables.
In Middle Chinese, clustered consonants disappeared, and some similar finals were merged. This could reduce about a half of the total syllables. There were 36 initials and about 40 finals.
In early 14th Century, there were only 25 initials and 19 finals (excluding mediums), much less than about 800 years ago.
The last big merge happened in the early 20th Century, called "Jian-tuan Merge", or loosely "Alveolar-Palatal Merge". Jianyin ("sharp sounds", like [ts], [s]) merged with Tuanyin ("round sounds", like [tɕ], [ɕ]). For example,  姓(sìng, "surname") merged with 幸(xìng, "luck/happiness"). (Example: 你幸福吗？(Are you happy?) /我姓“曾”。(My surname is Zeng. ) )
Therefore, modern Chinese only have about 400 syllables (according to Kahlgren, see Clock by Liang Shiqiu. In this article, Liang criticised superstitions related to characters with the same sound).

EDIT: Someone talked about the quantity and frequency of Chinese characters. I'd like to add a point. In Modern Chinese, words with two or more characters are used instead of one character. However, in ancient times, a character usually IS a word. For example, "驹" means "young horse", while in Modern Chinese, "小马"("small horse") is used more often. To express increasing things and concepts in the world, the Ancient Chinese people just invent more characters to express them. Take horse as an example, each of the following character indicate one specific kind of horse:
驽 (bad horse)
骁 (strong horse, now rarely used directly)
骄 (horse that's about six feet tall, now this character means "proud")
骐 (horse with black patterns, usually good at racing)
骢 (horse with green and white skin)
骃 (horse with dark grey skin and white patch)
However, in Modern Chinese, when indicating horses, we just add adjectives before "马"(horse), like 白马 (white horse), 好马 (good horse, or horse good at racing).


On the day: Difference between 每到教师节 and 每到教师节这一天 What is the significance of the 这一天 in the longer version?

每到教师节，...
每到教师节这一天，...

"每到教师节这一天，..." refer to the actual day, and the actual day alone

"每到教师节，..." can refer to the actual day or the time period around that day.

If you said: "Every Christmas, all the family members would come home from different parts of the country."  It gives room to the possibility of the family members arrive in different days. (may be a day early or a day late)

If you said: " Every Christmas day, all the family members would come home from different parts of the country." then it must mean all of them arrive on Christmas day.

Another example:

每到教师节, 心意咭的销售量都会比平时大几倍 (the increase of greeting card sale wouldn't occur just on the actual day, it would happen days before.)

In short, "每到教师节这一天" refers to one specific day only; "每到教师节" can be used as a shortened form of "每到教师节(期间)"


Correct pronunciation of "和" I know when it comes to names, it's pronounced "he" in "何", but my question is what about the regular:

  我和你

I think it should be "han" in "漢", but some people say "he", so my question is what is the correct way to pronounce.

I only heard some folks from Taipei have said 我han4你 to mean 我和(he2)你.

In standard mandarin, 和 is pronounced as he2.


Can anyone translate this Seal Script into english for me? I played this game called Sleeping Dogs that I really loved! It took place in Hong Kong and the main character Wei Shen has this tattoo on his arm that I thought would be cool to have. After doing some research I was told this was Seal Script and was not commonly used among the Chinese people. I would like some help deciphering this please and thank you!

Tattoo worn by Wei Shen in Sleeping Dogs

A picture of a cosplayer as well as another tattoo the character has which may add some context

Draft decipherment:

告鹿右Ｘ各　ＸＸＸ以金
瓜孔豕Ｘ亞　受Ｘ止而弟
豆Ｘ月勒子　Ｘ水東君者

　 - Uncertain characters
Ｘ - can't read

Neither of the tattoos say something legible, in my opinion. The characters are for artistic flair.


Help understanding "Hen ngai cang hiau chut-theu" by Zhang Shaolin 张少林个“肯涯正晓出头”

人穷爱肯涯正晓出头
平时努力人系饿毋瘦
完家大细一大楸
来负担系好愁
早晨由暗做杉几十穷
涯到拨病骨头痛又
做到瘦
还惊饿死老婆屋又臭
做到 汗流
周时爱当借靠老朋友
年轻爱食苦 做事莫怕羞
出头个日子还有

Nyin khiung oi hen ngai tsang hiau chut-theu
Phin-sii nu-lit nyin he ngo m seu
Won ka thai-se yit thai chiu
Loi fu-tam he hau seu
Tsau-sin yu am tso sam ki sip khiung
Ngai tau pot-phiang kut-theu thung yiu
Tso tau siu
Han kiang ngo-si lau-pho wuk yiu chiu
Tso tau hon liu
Tsiu-sii oi tong cia khau lau phen-yiu
Nyien-khiang oi sit-khu tso-sii mok pha siu
Chut-theu ke nyit-tsii han yu

When poverty allows me, I will succeed
People who work hard in common times are not scarce in hunger
The whole family, young and old people, are a big tree
And holding it up is rather sad (?)
In the morning from when it's still dark I make clothes in the tens.
If I fall ill and my bones hurt, I still
Work till I'm thin
I still fear I'll starve to death and my wife abd my house will be poor again
I work till my sweat flows
I often have to rely on old friends for borrowing [stuff]
When you're young you must suffer work and not be afraid of disgrace
There will still be a day of success

The above is my character approximation, transliteration, and translation attempt for a Hakka song by Zhang Shaolin. I am unsure about the following:

Translating 愁 as sad is the only option given the character, but I would expect something more like "hard, difficult" than "sad"; is that correct, or is there another seu/siu which fits best? Or maybe 楸 is the wrong character?
Is my reading of 早晨由暗做杉几十穷 correct?
That 当借 feels a bit like it should be a single verb, but I can't find it; is my translation fine?

Any other inputs are of course welcome.

EDIT

The first line is extremely prone to misinterpretation, because:

人穷 is reported by Minhakka… um, seems to be reported by Minhakka as "poverty", the culprit being «人窮起盗心», translated to «poverty leads to thievery» when a more literal (i.e. structure-reflecting) translation is «if a man is poor he will grow a thief's heart»;
肯 also means "allow";
The sound "ngai" is, in my mind, automatically matched to the pronoun "ngâi", meaning "I"; however, it is also the verb 捱, meaning "to endure, to suffer".

So after clearing up point 1, only one option is left:

  人穷爱肯捱正晓出头 | If a man is poor, only when he is willing to endure hardships will he succeed

With point 1 not cleared, the obvious interpretation is what I gave at the beginning. If we change the interpretation of 肯捱 without clearing up point 1, we end up with:

  人穷爱肯捱正晓出头

interpreted as:

  Only when (正) [I] will (爱) be willing (肯) to endure (捱) [my] poverty (人穷) can (晓) [I] succeed (出头).

来负担系好愁 = to burden oneself is very worrisome

  Is my reading of 早晨由暗做杉几十穷 correct?

It is not Mandarin or Cantonese,  I am not sure if your pinyin is correct or not, but sound like O.K to me.

当= 典当 (to pawn); 借= to borrow. The two verbs together means "to pawn and borrow"

[周时][爱][当][借][靠老朋友]= Often pawn, borrow and rely on (support from) old friends

Edit:

MickG wrote:

  Would I then be right in translating «完家大细一大楸 来负担系好愁» as «All my family, older and younger [people], is a big tree, and burdening myself [with it] is very worrysome»?

完家大细 = the entire family (old and young) ; 一大楸 = a big bundle  来负担系好愁 = it is very worrisome to burden myself (with all of them)

"完家大细一大楸 来负担系好愁" means " the entire family old and young, is a big bundle, to burden (myself with it) is very worrisome"


Official place names Is there an official list of place names (esp. for non-Chinese places)? If a bureaucrat or journalist in China is writing about a lesser-known foreign place, how do they determine the characters?

I usually use Google maps for Chinese place names, are these names official in any way? Does anyone know how Google determined the characters for so many obscure places?

In the PRC, the official agency that decides this seems to be the 中国地名委员会 (China Commission on Place Names).

They published a book called 外国地名译名手册 (Reference Book of Translated Foreign Place Names), which according to this Baidupedia entry includes the official translations of 18,000 place names plus general rules for translating place names from several different languages into Chinese.


How can I improve 酒吧漆黑的墙面稀疏地装饰着粉红樱花图案 to describe a floral pattern on the black walls of a bar? I'm trying to describe the walls in a bar (in my story), and this is what I've come up with:

  酒吧漆黑的墙面稀疏地装饰着粉红樱花图案。

Essentially, there's a bar and it's walls are painted black, except for a pink cherry-blossom motif which occurs infrequently.

Describing things in detail seems to be a major obstacle for me at the moment.  I'd prefer to keep 漆黑 and 装饰 in the sentence which are words I should learn, the others are not so important.

Question: How can I improve this sentence?

I'm particularly uncomfortable with 装饰着 as it sounds "active".

In case it's of any help:

  The bar's painted-black walls are sparsely decorated with a pink cherry-blossom motif.
  酒吧的粉刷成黑色的墙壁稀疏地装饰着粉红色的樱桃花图案。
  Google Translate

酒吧漆黑的墙面稀疏地装饰着粉红樱花图案。

--> 酒吧漆黑的墙面[上]，稀疏地[點綴]着粉红[色的]樱花图案。 --> 粉红色的樱花图案，稀疏地點綴着酒吧漆黑的墙面。


Word that I kept hearing at the end of a sentence I don't know any Chinese, but I went to a kind of sales pitch by a Chinese salesman. He kept saying a word at the end of some sentences. The best I could think of the English pronunciation would be div-e-day. It was always in the form of a question, so I think it might be something to the effect of "am I right" in English.  Any guesses?

The "word" you are asking about is not one word but two: "对不对"
对： Right
不对： Wrong
So he is asking you that: Is it correct or not? But actually meaning for this is trying to convince people like "Don't you think what i said is very reasonable? Yes, I am right!"

The Pinyin for these words: DUI 对, BU 不， DUI 对


What’s the difference between 实在 and 确实? I know both are adverbs and mean ‘indeed’, confirming the veracity of some condition or situation.
I can’t find any difference in the way they are commonly used.

Does anyone know what the difference is?
Thank you so much!

Both 实在 and 确实 can mean indeed or really. However, 确实 sounds more factual, so it's often used in a formal context. E.g. 经证实，此事确实与他无关。实在 sounds a bit 'emotional' or 'subjective' (增加了一点个人的感情色彩) and it's often used in informal or casual speech. E.g. 我实在是不知道！(it could imply that I really don't know and please don't ask me again, please trust me, and etc.) If you say 我确实是不知道，you try to emphasize the fact that you don't know (may not necessarily have any other implications).

On the other hand, 实在 has other meanings. E.g. 他这个人很实在 means he is quite honest. You can check on more meanings in a dictionary.


Glyph origin of the character for frequency 频/頻 = steps + head? What's the story behind this character 频? Neither of its components contribute phonetically to it, yet I can't seem to relate any of its components 步 steps and head/face 页 to its meaning of frequent/repeated.

频 is simplefield Chinese. 頻 is traditional Chinese.
步 means step and 页 means head in ancient Chinese.
频 is explained as "Nod your head for each step." literally. It extended meaning to "frequent" or "repeat". Imagining that you are frequenting/repeating noding your head for each step.


怎么用草船借箭这个成语 how／when to use 草船借箭 When and how do we use the idiom 草船借箭?

I know where the story comes from — 《三国演义》— and I know the meaning. But I'm still not really clear in what situation I'd say this.

It's not a 成语, actually. As a Chinese person who was born and raised in mainland China, I've never ever used it as a 成语, and I've never heard anybody use it as a 成语. When our teacher told the story of 草船借箭 to us in primary school, she didn't say 草船借箭 is a 成语 at all. It's just a famous story. And we rarely talk about this story.


How do I say "right at that time"? I'm trying to explain a situation I was in recently in written Chinese. How would I say "Luckily, right at that time Mark heard my voice"
Would it simply be
幸亏， 她正好那时候听到我的声音，马上叫了起来“

Thanks for helping out! I'm most interested in how to say "Right at that time" in different contexts

"right at that time" == "剛好", "當時"

"Luckily, right at that time Mark heard my voice" => "幸好當時 Mark 聽見我的聲音(呼叫)"


"Sheng" as a male given name Apparently there are quite a lot of characters that are pronounced as "sheng". (According to Pleco: 生、声、省、升、胜、圣、剩，盛、牲、绳、笙、甥、嵊、眚、乘、昇、晟、渑、㗂，呏，曻、泩、陞、鼪)

Which of these could plausibly be used as a (single character) male given name?

生、声、[省]、升、[胜]、圣、剩，[盛]、牲、绳、笙、甥、嵊、眚、乘、[昇]、晟、渑、㗂，呏，曻、泩、陞、鼪

  [省] as in 自省 (introspection) it is very meaningful as a name, but 省 can also mean province, may cause confusion

The following are very common single character names:

  [盛] as in 強盛 (powerful and prosperous)

  [胜] as in 胜利 (victory)

  [昇] as in 高昇 (rise high)

  升 and 陞 also mean rise, but as a name, 昇 is the most standard one

The following are questionable:

  牲 as in 牲口 (livestock) - very bad as a name

  剩 as in 剩余 (left-over; surplus; remaining) - not suitable as a name

  生 as in 生存(alive) 生命(life) - rare used in name because 生 is also a verb for give birth

  声 as in 声音(sound) - not very meaningful as a name

  圣 as in 神圣(holy) - too arrogant as a name

  甥 (nephew) - not suitable as a name

  乘 (ride)- not very meaningful as a name

  绳 (rope) - not common as a name

The following are obscure Chinese characters, not suitable as common names:

  嵊、晟、渑、㗂，呏，曻、泩、鼪


What is the meaning of this expression (落了下乘)? 然而当和尚走上石阶，禅房内却传来一声苍老的叹息：“长捷，虽为杀人事， 亦是菩提心，但若存了杀人念，你便落了下乘。”

“落了下乘”是什么意思呢？我已经百度一下，但是还没明白。词典也无用了。
我知道“落了”有fall, drop的意思，然后“下乘“有”小乘佛教“的意思。但是”落了下乘“的意思不明白。
请你解说我一下。

乘，梵语 Yāna，旧译为“衍”。有一乘、二乘、三乘、四乘、五乘之别。

以五乘来论，五乘也有多种说法；其中较常见的是指：人乘、天乘、声闻乘、缘觉乘、菩萨乘。这是由下品到上品的顺序。

文中先提到“虽为杀人事， 亦是菩提心”。

“菩提心”是度众生之心、成佛之心，属“菩萨乘”，也就是最上品之心。

“杀人念”是“人乘”的念头，是五乘中最下品之心。

因为有了杀人的想法，就由最上品的“菩萨乘”降成最下品的“人乘”，所以才会说“落了下乘”，堕落成为下乘。

乘 [shèng | ㄕㄥˋ] (Sanskrit यानम Yāna) the old transliteration is 衍那, simplified as 衍.
It means (noun) a vehicle or (verb) to carry.

There are five kinds of 乘: 一乘, 二乘, 三乘, 四乘 and 五乘.
It is better to answer the question in terms of 五乘.

五乘 also has a few kinds.
The more common one is: human beings, gods, श्रावक śrāvaka (hearers), प्रत्येकबुद्ध pratyekabuddha (beings who enlightened through reasoning on the riddle of life), and बोधिसत्त्व bodhisattva (conscious beings of or for the great intelligence).
This is the order from the lower level to the higher one.

He first mentioned, "Although it is a killing, is still a bodhichitta."

"Bodhicitta" is the mind of helping the sentient beings and of becoming a Buddha.
It is the highest level.

"Killing" is the idea of human beings.
It is the lowest level.

Because of the idea of killing, the mind falls from the highest to the lowest level.
Therefore, he said 落了下乘 (to fall to a lower level).


Are subtitles (often) necessary? As mentioned in this question, in many Chinese videos, particularly those coming from large media outlets, there are subtitles. I am wondering to what extent experienced Chinese speakers (native or not) find these necessary. By necessary, I mean that you are able to with pretty good confidence "recognize" all the words that are being spoken.

Naturally, it makes sense to add subtitles if the language being spoken is something else entirely. For example, Classical/Literary Chinese (in a historical drama, for instance), a different Chinese variety is being used (or the person speaking has a very strong accent), and so forth. Likewise, in music (where listeners don't have total access to tonal information among other difference), I could understand how subtitles might be necessary in these cases.

But what about in other genres, such as news reports, cooking videos, etc.?

As a non-native speaker, I find reading subtitles as opposed to actually understanding what is being said as a hindrance to practicing listening comprehension, so I try to listen to things like podcasts or videos without subtitles. Nevertheless, I do spend some time watching (Chinese) subtitled videos and wonder if many of the spoken words in these videos can be understood "on the fly" by Chinese speakers without visual aid.

TL;DR

Subtitles are not necessary.

Large media

Large media and news programs often supply subtitles, because they have more resources. The TV companies in mainland China act like public services, so they have to think about people who are not good at Mandarin, or have trouble with listening.

Cooking programs, talk shows

Some do, some don't. Since these kinds of programs are more free-speaking, they don't have scripts, and it would take some extra work to add subs.

Behavior of native speakers

We like subs, it makes you easy to follow. Especially since we always watch foreign videos with subs, we are used to watching with subs, even when we watch Chinese videos.

Can we understand on the fly?

Yeah, we won't have any trouble with watching videos in Chinese without subs, but that doesn't mean we can recognize 100% of the words, because of accent, background music, rare words, speed, etc. I think that happens among English-speaking people also.


What is the meaning of 刚一通过 here please? 当年，《中华人民共和国商标法》刚一通过，美国的《读者文摘》就立即为其中文文版《读者文摘》注册，并得到了相关部门的批准。

Does ‘刚一通过’ mean (a law) just passed through parliament , or in this case, the Peoples Congress in Beijing and ratified?

刚一
ABC

ADV. (副词)
just when; as soon as

CC-CEDICT

1 to be just about to
2 to have just started to

KEY

as soon as

当年，《中华人民共和国商标法》刚一通过，美国的《读者文摘》就立即为其中文文版《读者文摘》注册，并得到了相关部门的批准。
At that time, just when the "Trademark Law of the People’s Republic of China" was passed "Reader's Digest", as American company, immediately registered the Chinese version of it's publication (读者文摘) and received approval from all relative departments.


Stroke order confusion: 妆, 装 vs 乘 Stroke order according to Nciku and Visual Mandarin for 妆 and 装, the left radical, 丬, the two ticks go before the bar. But in 乘, the radical that looks like 丬, the bar comes before the two ticks.

Why are the stroke orders different? They're practically look the same.

As @deutschZuid mentioned in his comment, the component in 乘 that you mention is technically not its radical. The "radical" refers specifically to which component the character is classified under in dictionaries, which in this case is 丿.

But anyway, to answer your question, the 丬 component in 妆 and 装 and the component that looks like that in 乘 have different stroke orders because they were originally derived from different components in the first place, even though they may look similar here.

In the case of 妆 and 装, their 丬 radical comes from 爿, in which the vertical bar comes last in the stroke order. In the case of 乘, the component that looks like 丬 is actually from 北, in which the vertical bar comes first.

[As an aside, the derivation of 乘 is actually even more complicated. It actually was originally 椉, which ended up getting simplified into 禾 + 北 = 乘.]


What variant phrases of 五里不同天 exist? 五里不同天 is defined in《广安方言与民俗词典》as:

  比喻地区不同，事物就有差异。

I remember long ago hearing that in 福建 they say that the culture changes every nine li, but I never learned the actual phrase.

What similar phrases exist? I'm afraid that 广安方言 might not be all that universal.

"十里不同音，百里不同俗"

Means different dialect every ten li / culture every hundred li

Basically the same methodology to describe how things are varies in such small geologic differences.  Also I believe "天" in "五里不同天" refers to the weather / climate (weather and climate are 2 different thing but I can't tell which one fits better here)


"Thank you" in Tibetan, Cantonese, and Mandarin I have observed, from subtitled movies, that there seems to be an expression [tɔdʒe] in Cantonese meaning, approximately, "thank you". In Standard Lhasa Tibetan as represented by Nawang Nornang, the Tibetan expression meaning "thank you" is [tɔɔdʒe] (tones omitted, vowel qualities approximate). As far as I know, in Mandarin, "thank you" is [çieçie] (xiexie). This raises a few questions that I hope someone can answer. First, is it correct that there are significantly (phonologically) different expressions for "thank you" in Mandarin and Cantonese (我不會說中國話). All of my experience with Cantonese comes from movies. Second, if in fact Tibetan "thank you" is similar to the Cantonese version of "thank you" and not Mandarin, is there an explanation for why Tibetan would be more similar to Cantonese than to Mandarin.

As others have correctly pointed out, the Tibetan expression for 'thank you' is ཐུགས་རྗེ་ཆེ་ (Wylie: thugs rje che). The approximate phonetic pronunciation in the Lhasa dialect is thu-je-che (the 'gs' and 'r' being silent). Literally, ཐུགས་རྗེ་ (thu-je) means 'compassion' and ཆེ་ (che) comes from the word ཆེན་པོ་ (chen-po), which means 'great'. So when you are thanking someone, you are basically telling them that they have 'great compassion'.

Although it may sound like the Chinese phrase 多謝, the similar pronunciation is just a coincidence and the two expressions have nothing in common whatsoever.


When can nouns be used as verbs? I’ve heard quite a few people from Mainland China say something like this:

每个周末我都会和我的父母一起视频。
I video call my parents every weekend.

Now, 视频 just means “video”, which means it is a noun.
The dictionaries on my phone and the Internet corroborate that this word  only has one definition, as mentioned.
However, it is clear that 视频 is used like a verb in this case. Why does this happen? What other nouns can undergo the same change, to become a verb in colloquial speech?

A noun becomes a verb, this phenomenon exists in many human languages.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthimeria

For example,

- How can I contact you?
- You can message me. / You can send me a message.

"message me" in Chinese is "发短信给我" or "给我发短信"

"发" is the verb but "短信我" make sense too.

If you speak "你可以短信我", Chinese people can understand very well.

BUT, "短信我" is rarely to be used.

Why? Because 短信 hasn't been using for a very long time, so it's still a noun, whereas 视频 has been using for a very long time, so 视频 is becoming a verb little by little, which is the abbreviation of "发起视频通话" or "发起视频聊天".

When people started to use the mobile phone a lot, Internet became famous at the same time too. At that time, a Chinese company Tencent developed a software, named QQ, which is similar with Skype. QQ was so hot that everyone used it. At that time, Chinese people kept saying "你可以Q我" to express "you can send me a message by QQ". You see, QQ, which is just a name of a product, became a verb too.

Basically, if a verb is too complex or too long but used a lot, people gonna try to simplify it. That's it.

So it's hard to say when nouns can be used as verbs, you need to live with Chinese people, immersing yourself in the Chinese culture, then you are able to answer this question...

The good thing is, any language is a very stable system, no need to worry a lot about these kinds of changes, these changes are extremely slow, you have enough time to learn about them.


Chinese Idiom puzzle 18 (中文填字遊戲) A new puzzle for May-2021

All or nothing

Bathe

A modern metaphor for a person’s life with extreme luxury and indulgence, without restraint  (有關紂王的典故)

Everyone wants to get to a higher position

Merits and achievements in war

No fixed address

A person with extremely bad morals and despicable behavior like an animal

Make oneself famous

A tooth for a tooth

Edo

Strength

In extreme danger

Blood flow like a river

The sun is descending behind the mountains in the west. It is a metaphor that things are close to decay or people are approaching old age

Substituting fake for real

Hippopotamus

Pull the tiger's beard. A metaphor for doing something daring and dangerous

Give up earthly desire

In broad daylight

Like bathing in the Spring wind. A metaphor for the feeling of meeting a mentor with sincere teaching

The average score

Be fair and unbiased

The order issued in the morning was changed in the evening. A metaphor for the volatility of government's rules and orders.

The well being of the people and the country

Loyal vassal

Good at understanding people's thinking

A. Orphan
B. Although in a safe environment, one also think of the possibility of danger
C. A flat place. A vast flat land where a horse can gallop. Refers to the vast plain
D. Vicious
E. Offical verbal agreement
F. One divided into two
G. Use eggs to attack a stone. It is a metaphor for attacking the strong with the weak. Will certainly be defeated
H. Once the principal changes, the subordinates also change.
I. Return home with glory (有關項羽的成語)
J. A monkey wears a hat. Used to ridicule someone for stealing his fame and high position without talents
K. Metaphor for secretly changes the content and nature of things
L. Improve
M. Although his face is human, his heart is as fierce as a beast. Described as cruel and despicable
N. Standing like a mainstay in the turbulent currents. An analogy of a person who can take on important responsibilities.
O. Having three highest-ranked government officers in four generations  (A description of 袁绍's family)
P. Full of air. Describe the look of arrogance.
Q. It is a metaphor that the situation is going worse day by day
R. Become independent from one's master and set up his own school
S. Completely empty
T. Popularity among the people
U. Physical battle
V. Literally means that power can uplift a mountain, describing a person’s strength (有關項羽的成語)
W. Spring and Autumn and the Warring States Period
X. Boundless merit
Y. The east wind blew across the horse's ears and disappeared instantly. A metaphor for 'deaf ears/ not listening'
Z. Calculate

1 孤注一掷
2 沐浴
3 酒池肉林
4 人往高处
5 战功
6 居无定所
7 衣冠禽兽
8 扬名立万
9 以牙还牙
10 江户
11 力量
12 危如累卵
13 血流成河
14日落西山
15 偷梁换柱
16 河马
17 捋虎须
18 四大皆空
19 光天化日
20 如沐春风
21 平均分
22 大公无私
23 朝令夕改
24 民生国计
25 不二之臣
26 善解人意
A 孤儿
B 居安思危
C 一马平川
D 如狼似虎
E 一言为定
F 一分为二
G 以卵击石
H 一朝天子一朝臣
I 衣锦还乡
J 沐猴而冠
K 偷天换日
L 改善
M 人面兽心
N 中流砥柱
O 四世三公
P 趾高气扬
Q 江河日下
R 自立门户
S 空空如也
T 民心
U 肉搏战
V 力拔山河
W 春秋战国
X 功德无量
Y 马耳东风
Z 计算


When does 一会儿 go before / after the verb? I have seen some sentences where 一会儿 (yīhuìr), meaning in a while / in a moment, is placed before the verb and in some others, after the verb.
Is there some rule for deciding the position, are both positions fine or the position depends on the particular case and is somewhat idiomatic?
Some examples:

Before the verb

我们一会儿见！
Wǒmen yīhuìr jiàn!
See you later!

我一会儿去找你。
Wǒ yīhuìr qù zhǎo nǐ。
I'll look for you in a while.

After the verb

忙什么，再坐一会儿吧。
Máng shénme, zài zuò yīhuìr ba.
What's the hurry? Stay a bit longer.

稍等一会儿。
Shāo děng yīhuìr.
Please wait a moment.

The meaning just differs.
When 一会儿 is used as an adverbial, i.e. before a verb, it means "in a while", "shortly". It's understood that the action to be set in the future.

别着急，公交车一会儿就来了 = don't worry, the bus will arrive shortly

When 一会儿 is used as a complement, i.e. after a verb, it means "a little while", or "a little longer" if 再 is present. It identifies a time duration.

我想看一会儿电视 = I want to watch a bit of TV


Chinese symbols on a Murakami painting? Recently at an art gallery, I was introduced to some works of Takashi Murakami. On quite a few of his paintings were symbols which looked like Chinese, some sort of a seal perhaps. There was a painting I really liked and I took a snapshot

so we see three symbols and then what looks like a seal. This is just one corner of the huge painting. My question is, what are these symbols? What do they mean? Are they Chinese, Japanese, or Kanji? My guess is Chinese and hence the post here. Do they collectively have a meaning? Is there a meaning-in-context here perhaps because they are on a painting?

It is “澗声”, which means the sound of the mountain stream.


"Single drop of red" (Wuxia) I have this only via oral tradition, but wanted to ask about it here b/c I assume this is where the Chinese scholars are.

Where does this phrase appear in the Chinese literary tradition, what are the range of possible translations, and hidden meanings that would be lost in translation?

(For background, "single drop of red" is an ideal of Chinese swordplay, whereby the knight errant dispatches an opponent with a single thrust of the minimum necessary depth, leaving only a small wound, presumable with little bleeding.)

The term 一點紅 you are referring to is an assassin/ swordsman called '中原一點紅' in a Chinese Martial art novel 《楚留香》 by 古龍.
His signature move is a sword-thrust so precise that it only leaves behind a tiny wound, looks like a red dot on his opponent's forehead.
We don't know his true name. He was only known as '中原一點紅' in the novel
It is fictional, not a real martial art term
Notices:

In general, 一點紅 means 'the only female among a group of males'. It came from the Chinese expression '萬綠叢中一點紅' (a single red dot in a greenfield). Example: "麗莎是我們出版社的一點紅" means "Lisa is the one red dot (only female member) in our publishing house"

And 萬綠叢中一點紅 came from the poem 《咏石榴花》. (a poem about pomegranate flower) by 王安石（1021-12-18 ～ 1086-5-21）

今朝五月正清和，榴花詩句入禪那。

濃綠萬枝紅一點，動人春色不須多。

紅一點 refers to a single pomegranate flower among trees full of green leaves, a sign of early spring.

一點紅 is also the name of a plant that is used in traditional Chinese medicine


In an article talking about Chinese cuisine, what does 辉煌 describe in 以至辉煌至今? This article is talking about Chinese cuisine.

中国的饮食文化历经数千年，
Chinese cuisine is thousands of years old,
始终具有魅力，
it is always charming,
是因为它不仅民族特性鲜明，
not only because of its distinct ethnic characteristics,
而且善于吸收不同国家、不同区域、不同民族的优异之处，
but also because it was good at absorbing different nations', regions' and ethnicities' culinary fortés,

以至辉煌至今。
1. which (ability to absorb) is still true today.
2. this (ability to absorb) still shines through today.
3. it (Chinese cuisine) is still splendid today.

什么事情，事物是‘辉煌的‘？这里‘辉煌’的形容词描述了什么？

可以简述为：‘中国饮食以至辉煌至今。’吗？

为‘辉煌’我有：杰出的; 灿烂的

辉:

(n) brightness; splendour; radiance

(v) to shine

煌:  splendid; brilliant; sparkling

辉煌 means ' to shine brilliantly'

Most of the time, 辉煌 is used as a compound, acting as an adjective for: "splendid; glorious; brilliant".

  什么事情，事物是‘辉煌的‘？这里‘辉煌’的形容词描述了什么？

'辉煌' is an adjective when it is placed before a noun. For example: 'brilliant battle record' (辉煌战绩).

  '中国饮食辉煌至今' -
  "Chinese cuisine is still shining brilliantly till today"

In this context, 辉煌 is either acting as a verb phrase: 'shine brilliantly'. In which, 辉 is acting as a verb: 'to shine';

Or the sentence just omitted the verb: 'still be' (仍是)

'中国饮食(仍是)辉煌至今' -- 'Chinese cuisine (is still) glorious till today"

look at 'splendid battle record' (辉煌战绩) again,  辉煌 is clearly an adjective because it is placed before the noun 战绩.

However, in '战绩辉煌', 辉煌 could also be treated as a verb phrase (battle record shines brilliantly) with 战绩 as the subject.

Or 辉煌 is still an adjective, with the verb omitted in the phrase:  '战绩(非常)辉煌'--  'battle record (is very) splendid'

  为‘辉煌’

If you want to say: 'for glory', 辉煌 is not the word, because it is not a noun.

'For glory' in Chinese is '为荣耀'


博士 Pronunciation /ʃə/ or /ʃi/ Why in Chinese some people pronounce the vocal "i" in 士 in the word 博士 (bó shì) as the IPA  /i/ in the English "she", but sometimes they pronounce it as the IPA
/ə/ in the English "her". Which one is more correct?

Links I found of both pronunciation /i/ and /ə/

Which one is more correct to standard Mandarin Chinese?

And also, which one is actually more practiced in real life ? If the /ə/ is more used than /i/ in 博士 in Chinese Speaking , why is it like that?

Actually neither of them is correct [technically speaking]. Also in the link you provided, that does sound like /i:/ as in "see", but that is not the sound actually made. Maybe the one provided such pronunciation might put her tongue a bit close to the teeth and create a bit confusion, or the recording is not authentic enough.

Acceptable way: let the position of your tongue ready for pronouncing /r/ in English. Then to pronounce "sh", just keep this position and let the air out of the mouth. When you do that, the air should pass through the small gap above your tongue.  Now for the full "shì", do the same thing and let your voice box vibrate at the same time.

In Standard Mandarin or "Putonghua" [普通话], "i" after "s/sh, z/zh, c/ch, r" are never pronounced like "/i/" as in "bit" or "/i:/" as in "see". In these cases, you could think of them as an extension of the sound in the front of "i".

If someone pronounces "shì" as "shè", then maybe s/he is used to pronounce "shì" for a short time then immediately s/he let his/her mouth open and relax before completing the pronunciation. Technically speaking, they actually pronounced "shì e", but not as much explicit, thus many native speakers would accept such a sound as well.

The phenomenon "儿化" truly exists, but not all words end by sound "i" are acceptable to  be "儿化" i.e. add a little /ər/ [IPA] at the end. The word 博士 should not be "儿化" in general [although some people may make this mistake because of the influence of their dialect].

P.S. "sh" in mandarin is not the same as /ʃ/ in English.

P.P.S. when referring to IPA symbols, I had used / / to wrap, while to Chinese Pinyin, I had used quotes "" instead.

UPDATE

For safety, I am here to paste useful explanations I made in comments.

When I said that

  you could think of the "i" as an extension of the "s/sh, z/zh, c/ch r" sound in the front of "i"

I meant that, e.g. when you pronounce "shi", you just need to hold the position of your tongue that produces "sh" and let your air out for a bit of longer time. Equivalently the "shi" sound would sound like prolonging the shhhh sound as @TomSofty33 understood.

When I said

  they are actually pronounced "shì e", but not as much explicit

The "not as much explicit" here is referring to the /i/ sound being not to explicitly pronounced as @TomSofty33 understood.
And the "e" in "shì e" does sound a bit like /ə/ in english IPA as in the word "her".

The pronunciation in the 1st link provided in the OP does not soun awkward to me as a native Chinese speaker, but might not be clear in the records. Personally I do not recommend. Some people might pronounce 博士 like that in the link. But technically speaking that is not the correct or standard one, however acceptable.
I am a native chinese speaker with satisfying TOEFL grade. So when I write the description starting with an English sound /r/, you could totally do as I explained, you do not need to worry about something like I may pronounce the English words in a wrong way, which would lead you to mistake if you do take what I have written in my answer.


Is there an English counterpart for 陷某某于不义之地? 杨度的《君宪救国论》是要陷袁世凯于不义之地吗？ 这是一个值得调查的假设。

Is there an English counterpart just as idiomatic and expressive?

[陷]某某[于]某[地] = [put]某某[in]某[position]

Example: "陷袁世凯于不义之地" = "put Yuan Shi kai in the position of being unjust"

Similar structure: [置]某某[于]某[地] = [put]某某[in]某[position]

Example: "置袁世凯于死地" = "put Yuan Shi kai in the position of certain death"

The difference between 陷 and 置 is 陷 has the added meaning of 'to entrap'

  George Chen wrote: Accurate but definitely not idiomatic or expressive.

Some common expressions that might fit:

'Set (someone) up to fail'
'Set (someone) up for the blame'
'paint (someone) into a corner'

Origin of 'paint (someone) into a corner' is: "A painter was paining a flood, he started from the exit, and at the end he found himself trapped into a corner. Any step he took would ruin his works. That's how the idiom came about. So, to put Yuan Shi kai in a position that no matter what step he took, would be seem as unjust (therefore, became a public enemy). Yuan was in effect, be painted into a corner,


How to say properly translate "circulation"? I know that 通风 means to ventilate, but how does one say circulation? Two specific sentences I'm having trouble translating are:

  He wanted to save energy, so he turned on the circulation fan instead of the air conditioning

vs.

  The new coins that the government approved go into circulation today.

I do not believe that circulation is the same in these sentences.

circulation fan (空气)循环风扇

money circulation 货币流通

blood curculation 血液循环

the circulation of news, information, rumours, etc 新闻/信息/谣言的传播

She's been ill but now she's back in circulation. 她一直生病, 但现在又重新参加社交活动了.

a newspaper with a (daily) circulation of more than one million （日）销售量超过一百万份的报纸

circulation figures 销售数字.


How to rhyme (押韻) when translating poetry? I found the following traslation of Psalm 1:3-4 of the Bible amazingly elegant:

  譬彼林木、植於溪旁、隨時結果、其葉青蒼、百事允臧、維彼惡者、猶之粃糠、爲風飄揚。

  English (KJV): And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of
  water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also
  shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. The ungodly
  are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.

To me the Chinese translation from Hebrew gives much more aesthetic pleasure. I guess part of the reason is 押韻(rhyme). In general, is there any guideline on how to rhyme when translating poetry?

Actually, we use "rhyme book" that divides commonly used characters into different rhyme. There are two popular rhyme books nowadays: 平水韵 for ancient rhyme and 中华新韵 for modern rhyme. Here is a link to an electronic copy of 平水韵.
In the translation you post, there are four characters in each line. Because many Chinese characters express similar meanings, you could choose one character that rhyme with other lines. In your example, it is the character "旁" in the line “植於溪旁”.
Since ancient Chinese grammar is extremely flexible, you could almost always position that character in rhyme (旁) at the end of the sentence, and the sentence can still make sense with some rearrangements. For example, let's assume that 旁 does not rhyme with others but 溪 does, then we can rearrange the sentence into "植木傍溪", and then 溪 is at the end this time.
In sum, you can almost always translate a foreign literature into Chinese poetry due to the flexibility of the Chinese grammar and the flexible meaning of each ancient Chinese character.
By the way, the aesthetic elegance does not comes with the rhyme alone. You could also learn the 格律.


How do game and program developers solve the pinyin input problem in their programs I always wondered about this and never felt the need to ask because I figured I would figure it out on my own. But I can't find an answer.

All of these games, especially multiplayer games, we people play in the West, use keyboard input. Since Sougou and Google / MS Pinyin IME are strictly OS tailored....how is it done in games? Do they still use Pinyin as input? Does every game have their own program? It sounds like a massive investment. What about messenger apps etc.

I'm interested to know how this is dealt with, maybe a question for people who live in China. Thank you.

This question does not belong in Chinese language section, nevertheless.

What you're talking are Chinese language input tools. There is actually nothing to solve here for game developers. Any game user can use Google pinyin, Sogou, Baidu input tools in a full screen application for Chinese input. A user types Chinese words in pinyin and gets a list of corresponding words. Some games may independently implement different language input switches via os IME API:

On Linux machine a user may use scim, fcitx or ibus input tools which work in the similar manner.


招待人 for "host" of guests or visitors (e.g., our "host" was kind)? 主持人 means the host of a show or event.

What is the right word for someone who entertains or hosts guests? 招待人？

For instance, assume this sentence:

Alice thought Bob was a kind and hospitable host.

How would you say this in Cantonese?
How would say this in Mandarin?

主人

Tuttle

  N

  1
  host (antonym 客人 kèren)

  客人都来了, 主人呢?
  Kèren dōu lái le, zhǔrén ne?
  The guests have all arrived, but where is the host?

As a verb you can try 做东 aswell.

Words.HK

  動詞
  作為主人家招待客人
  to be the host

  你嚟我屋企, 我做東。
  nei5 lai4 ngo5 uk1 kei2, ngo5 zou6 dung1.
  Come to my house, I will be the host.

Both work in Mandarin and Cantonese.

Kind and hospitable host I would translate like:

做东做得友好又大方


What are the different kinds of poems in Chinese? In the question "Are there poems in Chinese that rhyme?", a debate started about what is considered a poem in Chinese.

The texts I presented — 《三字經》 (Three Character Classic), 《百家姓》 (The Hundred Surnames), 《千字文》 (Thousand-Character Essay) — that I thought to be poems, apparently aren't considered as such by Chinese people. I replaced them with other material until I understand more about this distinction.

So what are the parameters to consider something a poem in Chinese? What are the differences between these and westerner works?

Also, what are 诗, 词, 歌 and 赋 and their characteristics?

At the beginning, I recommend you read the articles on Wikipedia to get some background info, because my English level limits me to elaborate on these info.

诗 Shi;
词 Ci;
曲 Qu (here it refers to 歌 in the question);
赋 Fu;

I am quite not familiar with the poetry in English or some other languages. Here I would only like to explain how I think a Chinese poem is defined, and I can't tell the differences between chinese poems and poems in other languages.
As the language changed, the style or pattern of Chinese poetry also changed. Nowadays, most famous and popular classic Chinese poems are 唐诗, the poems written in the 唐 Dynasty. Here, I would like just to explain the style of 唐诗, because they are the most popular and the style definition is strict. Remember, there are other styles of poems, but I won't talk about them here (too complicated, sorry).
In most cases, 唐诗 is subject to rules called 格律 (gé lǜ). 格律 includes four aspects: 用韵, 对仗, 平仄 and 字数.

字数: number of characters
五言绝句: 4 sentences with 5 characters for each sentence.
七言绝句: 4 sentences with 7 characters for each sentence.
五言律诗: 8 sentences with 5 characters for each sentence.
七言律诗: 8 sentences with 7 characters for each sentence.

用韵: to rhyme
The last character of the sentences, if its tone is 平 (see below), it should rhyme. I will show it in examples below. Note: Because pronunciation in those times was different from that in modern mandarin, you would find some sentence don't rhyme in mandarin.

对仗: to match, to relate to, to pair
It's hard to explain, I will show it in the examples. This characteristic is optional for 绝句, but required for 律诗.

平仄 (píng  zè)
平仄 refers to the tone of the characters. In ancient times (before the 元 dynasty), Chinese had 4 basic tones: 平, 上(shăng, not shàng), 去, 入. However, 入 has disappeared in mandarin, while in some dialects, especially in southern dialects, it remains. 上, 去 and 入 are classified into 仄. For 唐诗, the tone of every character is asked to satisfy a defined pattern based on 平仄.

Ok, now it's time for the examples. Thereinafter, "-" means the tone should be  平，“|” means tone should be 仄, and "+" means the tone could be either 平 or 仄.

A 七言绝句 from 杜甫

+-+|--|，+|--||-。+|+--||，+-+||--。
两个黄鹂鸣翠柳，一行白鹭上青天(tiān)。
窗含西岭千秋雪，门泊东吴万里船(chuán)。

In this example, 天 and 船 have 平 tone, and they rhyme (containing the same consonant "an"). Furthermore, 对仗 happens between the 1st and the 2nd sentence, and also between the 3rd and the 4th sentence. Read the 1st and the 2nd sentences (I wish you could), you would find what 对仗 means.

两 means "two" while 一 means "one" (both of them are numbers). 黄 means "yellow" while 白 means "white" (both of them are colors). 翠 means green while 青 means blue(again, colors). 个 and 行(háng) are all measure words. 黄鹂 and 白鹭 are names of two kinds of birds. 鸣 means "[a bird] to cry" and 上 means "to soar, to fly high". Both of them are verbs. 柳 means willow, and 天 means sky. Both of them are nouns.

This rhetoric is called 对仗: words at the same position have similar or reverse or related meanings(depending on the context), and have the same part of speech.
词 somehow works like 诗. The difference is that 词 has many different styles, called 词牌. One example would help me explain it: It's a work by the famous female writer 李清照, with its 词牌 of 《如梦令》. Below, "韵" means this character should rhyme. "叠" means this sentence should repeat exactly its previous one.

+|+--|(韵),+|+--|(韵)。+||--，+||--|(韵)。-|(韵),-|(叠),+||--|(韵)。
昨夜雨疏风骤(zhòu)，浓睡不消残酒(jiŭ)。试问卷帘人，却道海棠依旧(jiù)。知否(fǒu)，知否？应(yīng)是绿肥红瘦(shòu)。

Another 《如梦令》also by her

常记溪亭日暮(mù)，沉醉不知归路(lù)。兴(xìng)尽晚回舟，误入藕花深处(chù)。争渡(dù)，争渡。惊起一滩鸥鹭(lù)。

A work by the famous writer and general 辛弃疾, with 词牌 of 《南乡子》

+||--(韵)，+|--||-(韵)。+|+--||，--(韵)，+|--+|-(韵)。
+||--(韵)，+|--||-(韵)。+|+--||，--(韵)，+|--+|-(韵)。
何处望神州(zhōu)，满眼风光北固楼(lóu)。千古兴(xīng)亡多少事，悠悠(yōu)，不尽(jìn)长江滚滚流(liú)。
少年万兜(dōu)鍪(móu)，坐断东南战未休(xiū)。天下英雄谁敌手？曹刘(liú)，生子当如孙仲谋(móu)。

曲 is very similar with 词, having a lot of different styles, called 曲牌. It was originally composed for operas and was popular in 元 dynasty.
赋 is more like a prose, so it would be much longer, compared to 词 and 曲. It was popular in Han dynasty and before that time.
As I shown, when composing a classic 诗 or 词, the writer should pay attention to these rules, especially the tones of 平仄; however, it's hard for a man who could only speak in mandarin or some dialects to tell 平仄 of a character. Besides, limited by the character numbers, the writer has to express the meanings in a classic way, with few characters. This is hard too. Nowadays, it's very very rare to see a classic 诗.
Based on the descriptions above, you may understand why 《三字经》is not treated as 诗 by Chinese people, though the sentences rhyme.


How many characters do Chinese pupils know at different ages? I'm looking for data that would let me estimate how much written language young Chinese at different ages know, in terms of number of characters they can read/write.

Examples of materials that would help answer this question:

lists of characters that Chinese pupils learn at different grades at school (ideally official lists, if there are any)
statistics of how many new characters they learn at each grade
information about how many hours at every grade are dedicated exclusively to learning characters

I'm interested in data from China and from other Chinese-speaking countries.

Children usually go to grade 1 at the age of 6 or 7 in China.

According to "全日制义务教育语文课程标准", the character number that children should learn is:

Grade 1 to Grade 2: can read 1600 characters, and write 800 characters;

Grade 3 to Grade 4: can read 2500 characters, and write 2000 characters;

Grade 5 to Grade 6: can read 3000 characters, and write 2500 characters;

Grade 7 to Grade 9: can read 3500 characters, and write 3000 characters.


When does an adjective require 的 to describe a noun? In this post on the omission of the possessive 的，I came across an explanation of the adjective suffix 的 by Tang Ho. An example was:

强大勇敢 (brave + strong) = correct without 的
强大勇敢的人 (brave and strong man) = correct with 的
强大勇敢人 (X) *requires 的 to connect brave + strong with 人

Later in the explanation:

Adjectives that do not need adjective suffix can directly apply to the object 【meaning no need for 的】

For example, 好 in 好女兒 (good daughter) does not necessitate the use of 的。 It's just understood that 好 connects with 女兒。
Why does 高大的人 require 的 whereas 好女兒 does not? How can you tell whether an adjective requires a suffix such as 的？

Single character adjectives do not need possessive 的 when it is connected to single character nouns

  利刀， 大樹，好人

Single character adjectives do not need possessive 的 when it is connected to multiple characters nouns

  利斧頭，大樹屋(tree house)，好女兒

Two characters adjectives need possessive 的 when connected to single character nouns

  鋒利的刀, 巨大的樹， 混亂的心，cannot be reduced to 鋒利刀, 巨大樹， 混亂心

Two characters adjectives do not need possessive 的 when connected to two characters nouns

  鋒利武器，重大事件，混亂心情

An adjective phrase contains more than one or more individual descriptions need possessive 的 when connected to nouns

  鋒利(而)昴貴的武器， 强大(而)勇敢的人 cannot be reduced to 鋒利(而)昴貴武器，强大(而)勇敢人

If you can insert 而 between the two descriptions, you need the possessive 的

Note:

When you can bond an adjective and noun into a single common
term, the possessive 的 would not be needed

強大的人 --> 強人

高大的樹 --> 大樹

巨大的石頭 --> 巨石

春天的雨 --> 春雨

  強人(strongman)，大樹 (tall tree)，巨石 (boulder)，春雨(spring rain) are all common terms,


Differences between 条 and 根 Both of these two words 条 and 根 in the dictionary are said to be measure words for long and thin objects. What are the differences between them?

條 can be a measure word for huge things. For example, 一条河, 一条烟囱, 一条船(all long and thin but huge) - you can't use 根 for huge things
条 can be a measure word for living things. For example, 一条蚯蚓, 一条蛇, 一条狗 (all long and thin and alive) - Don't use 根 for living things
条 can be a measure word for thin and long  things with flat surface, For example, 一条手帕. 一条毛巾 (both long and thin and have a flat surface) - You can't use 根 for things that have a flat surface
条 can be a measure word for abstract concepts. For example, 一条规矩, 一条题目
根 is more common when used as a measure word for tiny things. For example, 一根绣花针, 一根火柴, 一根松针, 一根头发, 一根汗毛, (all long, thin and tiny)
条 can also replace 根 when used as a measure word for tiny things especially objects from living things. For example, 一根头发,  一根汗毛; 一条头发,  一条汗毛

For things that are not huge, tiny, alive or have a flat surface 條 and 根 are often interchangeable. For example, 一条长棍, 一根长棍, 一条短棒, 一根短棒


Differences between 摔，落 and 掉 The 3 words all have a meaning of fall but what are the differences between the 3 of them?

摔: stress on the power, usually for human and animal stumbled, or things thrown by people.

落: a process, usually slow

掉: lost control, stress on the difference from the original position and new position,

So a plane landing successfully could be 落下 from sky, if the plane get some troubles and fall down, that could be 掉下 from sky.

A famous quote 天上掉下个林妹妹 from 红楼梦, 林妹妹 is a girl in case you don't know 红楼梦, she was a immortal live in heaven.

What if 天上落下个林妹妹, then 林妹妹 might use some magic to land on the earth. That is a common scene in a fantasy novel.

What if 天上摔下个林妹妹, a funny scene, imagine she walks on the heaven, then stumbled then hit the ground by head...

But 天上掉下个林妹妹, weird and unbelievable things happened, a beautiful girl fall from heaven and stand just in front of you.


Does a similar system to a pangram exist for handwriting practice Question
Does Chinese have sets of phrases that cover both basic and complex strokes that are memorizable?

Situation
Within Alphabetic based languages we would be able to practice handwriting using a pangram
Examples:

Victor jagt zwölf Boxkämpfer quer über den großen Sylter Deich
When zombies arrive, quickly fax judge Pat

This way we can practice writing in a real application because it utilizes the full alphabet of a given language
"Eight Principles of Yong" (image below) does contain the basic strokes but it's as useful for handwriting practice as writing out the alphabet in alphabetic based languages. Good for learning the basics but not practical once you start writing out fully qualified sentences.

"Thousand Character Classic" was another piece I found but it's impractical to use as there is no way I can memorize
Lastly I found the question "How to improve my Chinese writing" to be very useful but only to the extent of how to critic ones own handwriting not so much on what to write out to review

Definitions used
To qualify the difference between basic and complex strokes below is picture of the Unicode CJK standard for strokes

I think you've pretty much answered your question. No there is no exact equivalent - an easily-memorised group of phrases that you can write repeatedly, to practice handwriting. There are two options:

For basic practice of writing strokes, Eight Principles of Yong is fine; you may even practice one stroke repeatedly, for example if you were doing brush calligraphy
To practice getting the shape and positioning of strokes/characters right, it is necessary to practice with a large corpus. Thousand Character Classic is a good option but you can substitute with your favourite poem or article. The point is to practice writing strokes and radicals that are different shapes and sizes, and getting their proportions right.


Is there a difference between 摆 and 放? I know that both are supposed to mean "to place" but are they interchangeable? I know that 摆 can be used in the following manner:

桌子上摆着三本书。

So could you also say something like

桌子上放着三本书。

and have it be a valid sentence?

Both are valid but with subtle differences. 摆 is more like "put for display", while 放 is just "put".


What does 经济生活 mean here? I'm a bit stuck translating these 6 characters. What does he mean with : 经济生活途径? （Probably not 'economic life way')

记者对社会学者进行访谈。

记者：您认为目前人们交友的目的是什么？

学者：。。。。 在他们看来，现代都市的人际关系应该务实，要寻求能为双方带来收益和便利的经济生活途径。。。。

Take this part:

要寻求能为双方带来收益和便利的经济生活途径

Essentially, in 1. it says: 要寻求 。。。途径 = must seek ... a way

Further on it says:

我曾调查过一位叫王威的先生，他很有经济意识，他的人际关系主题鲜明，即以经济生活为中心。

Is he really saying, city dwellers can only make friends through financial cooperation?

I interpret this as below. Does that seem right? I can't see a way to translate 经济生活途径 as a word.

在他们看来，
from their point of view,
现代都市的人际关系应该务实，
the inter-personal relations of modern city dwellers should be pragmatic,
要寻求能为双方带来收益和便利的经济生活途径
(they) must seek a way （途径） to bring profit and help to both parties make a living （经济生活）.

What about "to seek business opportunities which can bring mutual benefits and favors"?


What different grammatical uses exist for 而 in classical chinese? The question itself is already sufficient in description. Whose brilliant brain had the idea to coerce this nonsensical additional commentary text on us?

[conj.] (almost=while) a conj. with slight sense of transition/suppose, can be translated into: and;furthermore;moreover;but also;into the bargain;if;in case;however.

<连>

从古沿用下来的连词,可连接词、短语和分句,表示多种关系 [and;furthermore;moreover;but also;into the bargain;if;in case;however]

(1)
(listing)
表示并列关系

永州之野产异蛇,黑质而白章。—— 唐· 柳宗元《捕蛇者说》

Wilderness of Eishu(Yongzhou) produces peculiar snakes, whose skin black and texture white.

(2)
(progressing)
表示递进关系

君子博学而日参省乎己。——《荀子·劝学》

Kunshi (Junzi) (a noble one) broadly studies and furthermore daily introspect into himself.

(3)
(a slight casual relationship)
表示承接关系

余方心动欲还,而大声发于水上。——宋· 苏轼《石钟山记》

I was just hesitating to go home, when great sound generates from the waters.

(4)
(slight transition)
表示转折关系

青,取之于蓝,而青于蓝。——《荀子·劝学》

Ao (qin) is taken from Ai (lan), yet bluer/darker than Ai(lan).

(5)
(surmise)
表示假设关系

诸君而(如果)有意;瞻余马首可也。——清· 徐珂《清稗类钞·战事类》

You fellows if interested, up-look into my horse's head's orientation.

(6)(modification, similar to suffix -ly in English)
表示修饰关系,连接状语

吾恂恂而起。——唐· 柳宗元《捕蛇者说》

I uneasily got up.

[pron.] you,your; this

〈代〉

(1) 你;你的 [you;your]

余知而无罪也。——《左传·昭公二十年》

I know you are innocent.

(2) 这样,此 [this]

同是被逼迫,君而妾亦然。——《玉台新咏·古诗为焦仲卿妻作》

Same enforced, you being so and I also being.

[aux.]

〈助〉

(1)
(modification, "as to the extent")
表示偏正关系,相当于“之”,“的” [of]

虞之与虢,相恃而势。——《淮南子·人间》

Go(yu, ancient country) treating Kaku(guo, ancient country), take reciprocal reliance as the situation.

(2)
(comparison, though sometimes the same positioning can be case 1.6)
与“上”、“下”、“前”、“后”、“来”、“往”连用,相当于“以”

形而上者谓之道,形而下者谓之器。——《易·系辞上》

Up to entity is called Tao, down to entity called mechanism.

[mod.]

<语气>

(1)
(negative question)
用于句中,表示反问,相当于“难道”,“岂” [how could;how is it possible]

为仁由己,而由人乎哉?——《论语·颜渊》

To practice kindness is out of oneself, how could it be out of others?

(2)
(exclamation)
用于句末,相当于“耳”,“哪”

已而已而,今之从政者殆而。——《论语·微子》

Finished already, finished already, today's politicians are stupid as such!

Ref:ZDIC


Which classifier for window (窗户) is regularly used? The dictionary lists two classifiers for window (窗户) 个 and 扇. Are both of these in common usage? If so is there any difference in the register? Does one sound more formal, etc?

一扇窗户 refers to a window on the wall, while 一个窗户 refers to the object (frame and glass) of the window.

In most cases, 一扇窗户 is the only correct choice, 一个窗户 should not be used even in everyday speaking.

However, 一个窗户 is more appropriate when:

the window is not installed on the wall yet.
the window refers to something in computer interface (窗口).
the window refers to a car window.
the window (窗口) refers to a counter (in a bank etc.).


Origin of the word "娘惹" I know what 娘惹 means (wikipedia), however, I couldn't find any reference on its origin. Is it a Chinese transliteration of a Malaysian word, a Cantonese/Hokkien word or a Mandarin word? What's the literal meaning?

It is definitely transliterated from Malay (it's noted on the zh Wikipedia as well).

Baba and Nyonya (pronounced /ɲoɲə/) are descendants of Hokkien Chinese who migrated to Malaysia centuries ago. They have come to refuse to be recognized as descendants of the Chinese and instead, identified themselves as British subjects (as per Bahasa Malay WP entry).

According to Wikipedia, the term baba is a religious honorific term that originated from Persian and entered Southeast Asian languages possibly through traders. It originally was used as an honorific for one's grandparents in Malay. Its meaning changed over time among the Baba-Nyonya to refer to all males of this particular ethnic group.

Nyonya is a loanword from Javanese that was likely borrowed from Portuguese don(h)a (compare Italian: donna; Spanish: doña) meaning lady (夫人). The term was used by the Malay people to refer to all "foreign" women including female peranakan. With the departure of European colonists, the meaning of the term slowly narrowed down to only peranakan women.

For further reading on the cultural aspect of this term: Southeast Asia: A Historical Encyclopedia, From Angkor Wat to East Timor, Volume 1.


Do you change your voice when you're surprised, unsure etc. in Mandarin? In English you sometimes pronounce words in very different pitches/tones to express your emotions.
For example when you're offended, surprised or when being sarcastic.

Depending on the situation you may for instance answer a question with a sort of falling tone "No.". If the question offends you may answer "No." with a sort of falling-rising tone, almost as if it's a question.
Or if you are uncertain if the anwser should be yes or no, you may answer "No." with a kind of rising tone as if you're asking a question.

Now I wonder how this is done in Mandarin because if you just change the tones of the words, you might actually change the meaning.

Well in China,we use the same way to pronounce words in sentences.We may speak louder with angry tone when we are angry or quarrlling with someone.

For if changing tone may at the same time change the meaning,I want to say that it doesn't matter when you try to understand the meaning of the whole sentence.If you pick the emphasized word out of the sentence,it may sound very strange or just mean another meaning.Well in most cases,it's also recognizable because there are only four tones in chinese and the possible combination is limited,and to express common meaning,the quantity is even decreased to an easily counted number.So most time,we can get what the speaker said.

Well there is another question,that is the accent!It's not in the range of mandarin while I still want to say some.In China there are a large number of different areas.So sometimes even the pronunciation may be changed totally.It's common in China that people in one area can't understand what people in another area radically for historic and territorial reasons.Very interesting for the fact but bothered for communication,isn't it?


Why 独 〔獨〕 dú is alone? I am learning the word 独 dú alone.
Dog plus Insect become alone? Any ancient history or story behind this?

There is no 「虫」 (venomous snake; insect) in the character, that is an abbreviation used in Simplified Chinese. The orthodox character is 「獨」.

「獨」 is made up of semantic 「犬・犭」 (dog > beast) and phonetic 「蜀」 (Mandarin Pinyin: shǔ, Li Fang-Kuei OC: /*djuk/), originally representing the name of a mythical beast. From the Classic of Mountains and Seas: Classic of the Mountains: North:

《山海經・北山經・北次二經》
……曰北嚻之山，無石，其陽多碧，其陰多玉。有獸焉，其狀如虎，而白身犬首，馬尾彘鬛，名曰獨。……
...It is called the Mountain of 北嚻. This mountain is without boulders; its southern side is abundant with green jade, and its northern side is abundant with nephrite. There is a beast in this mountain, shaped like a tiger with a white body; it has the head of a dog, tail of a horse, and neck-bristles of a boar. Its name is 「獨」...

「獨」 were two characters created specifically to represent the name of this beast (Mandarin Pinyin: dú gǔ, Li Fang-Kuei OC: /*duk kuk/), which consists of two reduplicated syllables.

The meaning alone, solitary for the character 「獨」 is a rebus borrowing for this word; there were other borrowed characters for this word in the pre-Qín era, most prominently

「蜀」 itself;
「鹿」

References:

《王力古漢語字典》
先秦甲骨金文簡牘詞彙資料庫
小學堂上古音


Please may someone tell me what this symbol means? Hello!

I was wondering whether this symbol meant anything? I tried to search on Google and even used the image search on Google translate but nothing came back.

Thanks in advance!

This is a character “立”。

The basic meaning of "立" is "standing straight". However, since the picture you put is a tattoo, it usually has a deeper meaning.

The "立" in a tattoo can be understood as "顶天立地" which means when a person stands, his head reaches the sky and his feet step on the ground. With a deeper meaning, a person can withstand all kinds of difficulties and disasters and do their best to solve them, and the people around him are therefore safe.