As you may or may not know, I really like learning chengyu. After a while, I started to notice patterns and similar structures, and I got curious. What are the common patterns for chengyu?
There are a lot of chengyu, and I’m not that ambitious. I decided to just focus on the chengyu I know. Fortunately, pretty much all the chengyu I know are in Anki, so I was able to export them for analysis! I identified 16 of the most common patterns. Let’s take a look~
不可_ _
不可思议 bùkěsīyì - inconceivable / unimaginable / unfathomable 不可理喻 bùkělǐyù - to be impervious to reason / unreasonable 不可避免 bùkěbìmiǎn - unavoidably 不可或缺 bùkěhuòquē - necessary / must have 不可救药 bùkějiùyào - incurable / incorrigible / beyond cure / hopeless
无所_ _
无所畏惧 wúsuǒwèijù - fearless 无所不有 wúsuǒbùyǒu - to have everything 无所顾忌 wúsuǒgùjì - to have no misgivings / to stop at nothing 无所事事 wúsuǒshìshì - to have nothing to do / to idle one’s time away 无所不谈 wúsuǒbùtán - to talk about everything
不_不_
不折不扣 bùzhébúkòu - a hundred percent / to the letter / out-and-out 不屈不挠 bùqūbùnáo - unyielding / indomitable 不理不睬 bùlǐbùcǎi - to completely ignore / to pay no attention to / not to be in the least concerned about 不言不语 bùyánbùyǔ - to not say a word / to keep silent 不闻不问 bùwénbúwèn - not to hear, not to question / to show no interest in sth / uncritical / not in the least concerned
A lot of these contain words within them: 折扣、屈挠、理睬、言语、闻问 are all words!
一_不_
一丝不苟 yìsībùgǒu - strictly according to the rules / meticulous (lit. not one thread loose) 一成不变 yìchéngbúbiàn - nothing much changes / always the same 一尘不染 yìchénbùrǎn - selfless and incorruptible / spotless (lit. untainted by even a speck of dust) 一蹶不振 yìjuébúzhèn - a setback leading to total collapse / unable to recover after a minor hitch (lit. one stumble, unable to rise) 一丝不挂 yìsībúguà - absolutely naked / without a stitch of clothing (lit. not wearing one thread)
无_无_
无影无踪 wúyǐngwúzōng - to disappear without trace 无穷无尽 wúqióngwújìn - endless / boundless / infinite 无声无息 wúshēngwúxī - silent / unknown (lit. not a sound nor breath) 无边无际 wúbiānwújì - boundless / limitless 无忧无虑 wúyōuwúlǜ - carefree and without worries
A lot of these also contain words within them: 影踪、穷尽、声息、边际、忧虑 are all words!
一_一_
一心一意 yìxīnyíyì - concentrating one’s thoughts and efforts / single-minded / bent on / intently 一言一行 yìyányìxíng - every word and action 一举一动 yìjǔyídòng - every movement / each and every move 一朝一夕 yìzhāoyìxī - in a short period of time / overnight (lit. one morning and one evening) 一生一世 yìshēngyíshì - a whole lifetime all my life
Once again, we have some words: 心意、言行、举动、朝夕、生世 are all words!
_天_地
惊天动地 jīngtiāndòngdì - world-shaking 铺天盖地 pūtiāngàidì - everywhere / coming with great momentum (lit. hiding the sky and covering the earth) 开天辟地 kāitiānpìdì - to split heaven and earth apart 冰天雪地 bīngtiānxuědì - a world of ice and snow 欢天喜地 huāntiānxǐdì - delighted / with great joy / in high spirits
_言_语
千言万语 qiānyánwànyǔ - thousands of words / having a lot of things to say 自言自语 zìyánzìyǔ - to talk to oneself / to think aloud / to soliloquize 不言不语 bùyánbùyǔ - to not say a word / to keep silent 花言巧语 huāyánqiǎoyǔ - flowery speech / elegant but insincere words / dishonest rhetoric 流言蜚语 liúyánfēiyǔ - rumors and slanders / gossip / lies and slanders
_心_意
三心二意 sānxīnèryì - in two minds about sth / hesitant / indecisive 真心实意 zhēnxīnshíyì - genuine and sincere / wholehearted 粗心大意 cūxīndàyì - negligent / careless / inadvertent 专心一意 zhuānxīnyíyì - to concentrate on 全心全意 quánxīnquányì - heart and soul / wholeheartedly
AABB
兢兢业业 jīngjīngyèyè - conscientious / assiduous 形形色色 xíngxíngsèsè - all kinds of / all sorts of / every different kind of 踏踏实实 tātāshíshí - steady / steadfast 轰轰烈烈 hōnghōnglièliè - strong / vigorous / large-scale 鬼鬼祟祟 guǐguǐsuìsuì - sneaky / secretive / furtive
ABCC
兴致勃勃 xìngzhìbóbó - to become exhilarated / in high spirits / full of zest 小心翼翼 xiǎoxīnyìyì - cautious and solemn / very carefully / prudent / gently and cautiously 忧心忡忡 yōuxīnchōngchōng - deeply worried and sick at heart 怒气冲冲 nùqìchōngchōng - spitting anger / in a rage 气喘吁吁 qìchuǎnxūxū - to pant / to gasp for breath
ABAC
善有善报 shànyǒushànbào - virtue has its rewards / one good turn deserves another 土生土长 tǔshēngtǔzhǎng - locally born and bred / indigenous / home-grown 相亲相爱 xiāngqīnxiāngài - to be kind and love one another / bound by deep emotions 蹑手蹑脚 nièshǒunièjiǎo - to walk quietly on tiptoe 难舍难分 nánshěnánfēn - loath to part / emotionally close and unwilling to separate
ABCB
人云亦云 rényúnyìyún - to say what everyone says / to conform to what one perceives to be the majority view / to follow the herd 大错特错 dàcuòtècuò - to be gravely mistaken 将错就错 jiāngcuòjiùcuò - to make the best after a mistake / to accept an error and adapt to it (lit. if it’s wrong, it’s wrong) 得过且过 déguòqiěguò - satisfied just to get through / to muddle through / without high ambitions, but getting by 讨价还价 tǎojiàhuánjià - to haggle over price / to bargain
AABC
井井有条 jǐngjǐngyǒutiáo - everything clear and orderly / neat and tidy 摇摇欲坠 yáoyáoyùzhuì - tottering / on the verge of collapse 栩栩如生 xǔxǔrúshēng - vivid and lifelike / true to life / realistic 格格不入 gégébúrù - inharmonious / incompatible 默默无闻 mòmòwúwén - obscure and unknown / an outsider without any reputation / a nobody
Split Words
There are other chengyu containing words that don’t fit any of the above patterns. I wanted to include them as well :)
不言而喻 bùyán'éryù - it goes without saying / it is self-evident -> 言喻 有缘无分 yǒuyuánwúfèn - destined to meet but not fated to be together -> 缘分 有条有理 yǒutiáoyǒulǐ everything clear and orderly / neat and tidy -> 条理 挑三拣四 tiāosānjiǎnsì - to be picky / to be choosy -> 挑拣 取而代之 qǔ'érdàizhī - to substitute for sb / to remove and replace -> 取代
Interspersed Words
Some chengyu actually contain two words interspersed. These ones are really cool!
功成名就 gōngchéngmíngjiù - to win success and recognition -> 功名、成就 胡思乱想 húsīluànxiǎng - to indulge in flights of fancy / to let one’s imagination run wild -> 胡乱、思想 生儿育女 shēng'éryùnǚ - to bear and raise children -> 生育、儿女 通情达理 tōngqíngdálǐ - fair and reasonable / sensible / standing to reason -> 通达、情理 门当户对 méndānghùduì - the families are well-matched in terms of social status / (of a prospective marriage partner) an appropriate match -> 门户、当对
Lately I’ve been really interested in words that consist of two opposites smashed together, especially those used to mean “A and/or B.” I’m highlighting five of these words that I’ve encountered a lot.
生死 shēngsǐ - life or death 我当时知道生死就是一瞬间的事情。
去留 qùliú - going or staying 投票结果会决定选手的去留。
成败 chéngbài - success or failure 这项计划的成败取决于你。
真伪 zhēnwěi - true or bogus / authenticity 在缺乏知识经验的情况下，普通人应该如何分辨信息的真伪？
输赢 shūyíng - win or loss / outcome 我并不在意这场比赛的输赢。
Aren’t these words neat? I can’t wait to add more to my vocabulary!
Over my years of studying Chinese, I’ve encountered many familiar characters in unfamiliar situations. Basically, when I originally learned a character, I only learned one or some of its possible meanings. Then later down the line, I encountered the same character but with a meaning that I hadn’t learned. Confusion ensued. Then I pulled up Pleco or MDBG, and all became clear!
Let’s go down memory lane and look at some of the characters that have perplexed me over the years.
同款 tóngkuǎn - similar (model) / merchandise similar to that used by a celebrity etc
Recently I’ve seen a lot of ads with the word 同款. I was quite confused because I thought 款 had to do with money, like in 贷款 or 捐款. After looking up 款, everything made sense—the ads I saw were advertising a service where you can buy clothing that your favorite celebs wear!
款 kuǎn - section / paragraph / funds / classifier for versions or models (of a product)
疼惜 téngxī - to cherish / to dote on 疼爱 téngài - to love dearly
Before encountering these words, I was only familiar with 疼 from words like 头疼 and 疼痛, which have to do with pain. So you can imagine my confusion when I saw “cherish” as the definition for 疼惜! I find it interesting how this character has both a very positive and a very negative meaning.
疼 téng - (it) hurts / sore / to love dearly
告别 gàobié - to leave / to bid farewell to / to say good-bye to 离别 líbié - to leave (on a long journey) / to part from sb
I knew a lot of words with 别, but none with the meaning of leave/depart…even though that is the first definition listed in MDBG! Even to this day, when I see the expression 别来无恙, it takes me a sec to remember what 别 means in there.
别 bié - to leave / to depart / to separate / to distinguish / to classify / other / another / don’t …! / to pin / to stick (sth) in / (noun suffix) category
发毛 fāmáo - to be scared / to be panicked
I heard this use of 毛 while watching Chinese-language TV. I instantly looked up 毛 in Pleco because the meanings of 毛 I knew made no sense in the contexts of the scene. I’ve been able to remember this new (to me) meaning of 毛 thanks to the chengyu 毛骨悚然.
毛 máo - hair / feather / down / wool / mildew / mold / coarse or semifinished / young / raw / careless / unthinking / nervous / scared / (of currency) to devalue or depreciate / classifier for Chinese fractional monetary unit
说道 shuōdào - to state / to say (the quoted words) 问道 wèndào - to ask the way / to ask
I was so bewildered when I first saw 道 used like this—even though I knew many, many words with 道 that were diverse in meaning. Now I see this kind of 道 a lot when I’m reading, so I’m confident that you will encounter it sooner or later.
道 dào - road / path / principle / truth / morality / reason / skill / method / Dao (of Daoism) / to say / to speak / to talk / classifier for long thin things (rivers, cracks etc), barriers (walls, doors etc), questions (in an exam etc), commands, courses in a meal, steps in a process / (old) circuit (administrative division)
花光 huāguāng - to spend all one’s money 不光 bùguāng - not the only one / not only
Here there are two new meanings of 光 that I remember learning. For the “use up” meaning, 花光, 用光, and 吃光 seem to be the most common uses. As for the “only" meaning, I hear 不光 all the time now. It’s definitely super useful to know.
光 guāng - light / ray / bright / only / merely / to use up
理睬 lǐcǎi - to heed / to pay attention to 不理 bùlǐ - to refuse to acknowledge / to pay no attention to / to take no notice of / to ignore
理 is another character that I encounter constantly in words like 理解, 理由, and 处理. I think I first learned the “to pay attention to” meaning from the chengyu 不理不睬. Now I encounter and use 不理 really frequently!
理 lǐ - texture / grain (of wood) / inner essence / intrinsic order / reason / logic / truth / science / natural science (esp. physics) / to manage / to pay attention to / to run (affairs) / to handle / to put in order / to tidy up
Here is another example of “what? How did this character acquire both these definitions?” At least I have not had much trouble with remembering this meaning of 皮. I think I learned 顽皮 first, but I feel like I hear 调皮 more.
往事 wǎngshì - past events / former happenings 过往 guòwǎng - to come and go / to have friendly relations with / in the past / previous
过往 is a very tricky word for me because I have trouble remembering the in the past/previous definition. After so many years of only using 往 for things like 往前走, I have struggled to learn words like 来往 and 交往. So another definition of 往 is kind of too much for me I guess!
往 wǎng - to go (in a direction) / to / towards / (of a train) bound for / past / previous
被子 bèizi - quilt / CL: 床
I remember learning 被子 in Chinese classes and being surprised to see that 被 could mean quilt. But it would not stick in my memory, so I was constantly failing to recall 被子 while doing Anki. Fortunately, thanks to the song 红色高跟鞋 by 蔡健雅, I will never struggle to remember 被子 again.
被 bèi - quilt / by / (indicates passive-voice clauses) / (literary) to cover / to meet with
This one really gets to me because I feel like “deficit” and “luckily” are so, so opposite. There must be an interesting explanation for how 亏 ended up with both these meanings. I still have trouble remembering what 幸亏 and 多亏 actually mean.
不服 bùfú - not to accept sth / to want to have sth overruled or changed / to refuse to obey or comply / to refuse to accept as final / to remain unconvinced by / not to give in to 服从 fúcóng - to obey (an order) / to comply / to defer 服药 fúyào - to take medicine
I am pretty sure I first encountered this meaning of 服 when I heard the song 《不服》 performed by 汪苏泷 and some of the trainees on 青春有你2. I was very confused by it. Even after seeing the dictionary definitions, I struggled to understand how to use the word 不服. It simply took lots more exposure for me to grasp it. 服 as in 服药 still trips me up to this day. I’ve kind of given up on trying to remember it.
服 fú - clothes / dress / garment / to serve (in the military, a prison sentence etc) / to obey / to be convinced (by an argument) / to convince / to admire / to acclimatize / to take (medicine) / mourning clothes / to wear mourning clothes
输入 shūrù - to import / to input 运输 yùnshū - to transport / to carry / transportation
I felt borderline betrayed upon learning the word 运输. I felt like 输 was cheating on its partner 赢! I was also really confused at the time because I had no idea what “to lose” had to do “transportation” haha. I’ve come to accept 输入 simply because I see it so much that it’s become very normal to me.
输 shū - to lose / to transport / to donate / to enter (a password)
领取 lǐngqǔ - to receive / to draw / to get
I “learned” 领取 in Chinese class a couple years ago, but it never stuck for me. Then I saw 领 in the contexts of something like 领奖项. I was confused and looked up 领 in the dictionary. Then I had an ohhhh moment. Now I’m finally able to remember 领取!
领 lǐng - neck / collar / to lead / to receive / classifier for clothes, mats, screens etc
拼命 pīnmìng - to do one’s utmost / with all one’s might / at all costs / (to work or fight) as if one’s life depends on it
From 拼音 and 拼写 to 拼命! It’s a pretty jarring difference to be honest! But idol survival shows (which I watch too many of) include 拼 or 拼命 A LOT, so I’ve gotten used to it.
拼 pīn - to piece together / to join together / to stake all / adventurous / at the risk of one’s life / to spell
Check out part 1 first! In both part 1 and this post, I am looking at 多音字 for which the different pronunciations vary only by tone. This is because I find these type of 多音字 especially tricky.
Other posts with similarities/overlaps: *There are some overlapping characters between this post and these other posts.
朝鲜 cháoxiǎn - North Korea / Korea as geographic term (TW pr. cháoxiān)
鲜少 xiǎnshǎo - very few / rarely
分 | 份
分 fēn - to divide / to separate / to distribute / to allocate / to distinguish (good and bad) / part or subdivision / fraction / one tenth (of certain units) / unit of length equivalent to 0.33 cm / minute (unit of time) / minute (angular measurement unit) / a point (in sports or games) / 0.01 yuan (unit of money)
分别 fēnbié - to part or leave each other / to distinguish / difference / in different ways / differently / separately or individually
分析 fēnxī - to analyze / analysis
十分 shífēn - very / completely / utterly / extremely / absolutely / hundred percent / to divide into ten equal parts
分 | 份 fèn - part / share / ingredient / component 份 is a variant for this meaning.
部分 bùfen - part / share / section / piece (TW pr. bùfèn)
过分 guòfèn - excessive / undue / overly
天分 tiānfèn - natural gift / talent
间 | 間
间 jiān - between / among / within a definite time or space / room / section of a room or lateral space between two pairs of pillars / classifier for rooms
瞬间 shùnjiān - in an instant / in a flash
期间 qījiān - period of time / time / time period / period
民间 mínjiān - among the people / popular / folk / non-governmental / involving people rather than governments
间 jiàn - gap / to separate / to thin out (seedlings) / to sow discontent
间接 jiànjiē - indirect
间谍 jiàndié - spy
间断 jiànduàn - disconnected / interrupted / suspended / a gap / a break
卷 | 捲
卷 juǎn - to roll up / roll / classifier for small rolled things / to sweep up / to carry on / roll
卷 | 捲 juǎn - to roll (up) / to sweep up / to carry on / roll
Though listed separately in the dictionary, these two seem to be used interchangeably in many cases. I got a lot of search results for both 花卷 and 花捲, for instance.
花卷 huājuǎn - Chinese steamed twisted bread roll
卷发 juǎnfà - to curl hair (TW pr. juǎnfǎ)
春卷 chūnjuǎn - egg roll / spring roll
卷 juàn scroll / book / volume / chapter / examination paper / classifier for books, paintings: volume, scroll
问卷 wènjuàn - questionnaire
试卷 shìjuàn - examination paper / test paper
考卷 kǎojuàn - exam paper
冠
冠 guān - hat / crown / crest / cap
新冠病毒 xīnguānbìngdú - novel coronavirus {RIP, I am sad}
皇冠 huángguān - crown
冠 guàn - to put on a hat / to be first / to dub
冠军 guànjūn - champion
夺冠 duóguàn to seize the crown / to win a championship / to win gold medal
脏 | 髒/臟
脏 | 髒 zāng - dirty / filthy / to get (sth) dirty
脏话 zānghuà - profanity / obscene language / speaking rudely
肮脏 āngzāng - dirty / filthy
弄脏 nòngzāng - to make dirty / to defile / to smear
脏 | 臟 zàng - viscera / (anatomy) organ
心脏 xīnzàng - heart
肝脏 gānzàng - liver
内脏 nèizàng - internal organs / viscera
少
少 shǎo - few / less / to lack / to be missing / to stop (doing sth) / seldom
至少 zhìshǎo - at least / (to say the) least
减少 jiǎnshǎo - to lessen / to decrease / to reduce / to lower
缺少 quēshǎo - lack / shortage of / shortfall / to be short (of) / to lack
少 shào - young
少年 shàonián - early youth / youngster / (literary) youth / young man
少林 shàolín - Shaolin monastery and martial arts school
少女 shàonǚ - girl / young lady
舍 | 捨
舍 | 捨 shě - to give up / to abandon / to give alms
舍不得 shěbude - to hate to do sth / to hate to part with / to begrudge
商量 shāngliang - to consult / to talk over / to discuss (TW pr. shāngliáng)
量体温 liángtǐwēn - to take sb’s temperature
量 liàng - capacity / quantity / amount / to estimate / measure word
质量 zhìliàng - quality / (physics) mass
胆量 dǎnliàng - courage / boldness / guts
背
背 bèi - the back of a body or object / to turn one’s back / to hide something from / to learn by heart / to recite from memory / unlucky (slang) / hard of hearing
背叛 bèipàn - to betray
背影 bèiyǐng - rear view / figure seen from behind / view of the back (of a person or object)
Something I haven’t done in past posts but thought would be fun to do this time is share some of the songs that I heard these words in! See them under the cut.
The Most Satisfying Feeling I Get from Learning Chinese
One of the most satisfying feelings I’ve experienced in learning Chinese is the feeling I get after hearing a new word and just *understanding* it. This isn’t that hard when reading (and that’s why we love 汉字), but when it comes to listening, it’s a whole different story. So the moments when I’ve heard a new word and intuitively known what 汉字 it consists of plus its meaning of have made me feel so accomplished. Over time I’ve jotted down some of these words, and I thought they would make a fun post.
迷失 míshī - to lose (one’s bearings) / to get lost I was able to understand this word thanks to knowing words like 迷路, 迷茫, 失去, and 消失. I first remember identifying this word in Escape Plan’s song 夜空中最亮的星.
旅途 lǚtú - journey / trip I know a lot of words with 旅 like 旅游, 旅行, and 旅程, and I was also familiar with 途 via 路途 and 前途. So 旅途 was very easy for me to understand.
心愿 xīnyuàn - cherished desire / dream / craving / wish / aspiration 心愿 is similar in meaning to 愿望 and 意愿, which I already knew. I believe I first heard this word in the song 有点甜 by 汪苏泷 and BY2.
高傲 gāo'ào - arrogant / haughty / proud I heard this word in the song 寻宝 by 沈以诚. I’ve listened to this song many times, and one day it just clicked! It’s all thanks to the similar words 骄傲 and 傲慢.
安稳 ānwěn - smooth and steady There are so many words with 安 like 安定 and 平安. I also know some 稳 words, such as 稳定 and 平稳. So I was able to put two and two together for 安稳.
还原 huányuán - to restore to the original state / to reconstruct (an event) The meaning of 还 here is very familiar from 还给 and 还清. Also, I know a lot of words with 原: 原来, 原本, 原始, 原先.
选拔 xuǎnbá - to select the best There are so many 选 words I see all the time like 精选, 选举, and 选择. I also know 拔 from 拔苗助长 and 自拔, so I was able to piece together the overall meaning of 选拔.
解压 jiěyā - to relieve stress I’ve already learned the word 缓解 which is related in meaning. Also, I’ve learned 施压 (or 施加压力), which is basically the opposite of 解压.
感人 gǎnrén - touching / moving I think this word is pretty easy to put together if you know similar words like 感染, 感动, and 动人.
认输 rènshū - to concede / to admit defeat I distinctly remember hearing this word in the Tanya Chua song 救生圈. I think I was able to understand it thanks to knowing that 认 can mean to admit like in the words 承认 and 公认.
Here’s to many more of these satisfying moments in 2022!
Last post (probably) of the year! 《泡沫》 was a mega hit off G.E.M.’s 2012 album Xposed. The album features both Mandopop and Cantopop songs. I was initially torn between featuring this song and 《光年之外》, but I ultimately chose 《泡沫》 because it’s my favorite of the two. This song is so packed with feeling that I think you really don’t need to speak a word of Mandarin to understand the emotions the lyrics convey. When I first started listening to Mandopop, G.E.M. was one of the first artists I listened to, and I still enjoy her music to this day. So a Learning Chinese with Lyrics post featuring her is long overdue!
邓紫棋 (G.E.M.) - 泡沫
阳光下的泡沫 是彩色的 就像被骗的我 是幸福的 追究什么对错 你的谎言 基于你还爱我
彩色 cǎisè - color / multi-colored 追究 zhuījiū - to investigate / to look into (Taiwan pr. zhuījiù) 基于 jīyú - because of / on the basis of / in view of / on account of
美丽的泡沫 虽然一刹花火 你所有承诺 虽然都太脆弱 但爱像泡沫 如果能够看破 有什么难过
一刹 yíchà - instant / split second / a moment 花火 huāhuǒ - firework
早该知道泡沫 一触就破 就像已伤的心不胜折磨 也不是谁的错 谎言再多 基于你还爱我
不胜 búshèng - cannot bear or stand / be unequal to / very / extremely (Taiwan pr. bùshēng)
美丽的泡沫 虽然一刹花火 你所有承诺 虽然都太脆弱 爱本是泡沫 如果能够看破 有什么难过
再美的花朵 盛开过就凋落 再亮眼的星 一闪过就坠落 爱本是泡沫 如果能够看破 有什么难过
凋落 diāoluò - to wither (and drop off) / to wilt / to pass away 亮眼 liàngyǎn - conspicuous / showy
The Most Satisfying Feeling I Get from Learning Chinese
One of the most satisfying feelings I’ve experienced in learning Chinese is the feeling I get after hearing a new word and just *understanding* it. This isn’t that hard when reading (and that’s why we love 汉字), but when it comes to listening, it’s a whole different story. So the moments when I’ve heard a new word and intuitively known what 汉字 it consists of plus its meaning of have made me feel so accomplished. Over time I’ve jotted down some of these words, and I thought they would make a fun post.
迷失 míshī - to lose (one’s bearings) / to get lost I was able to understand this word thanks to knowing words like 迷路, 迷茫, 失去, and 消失. I first remember identifying this word in Escape Plan’s song 夜空中最亮的星.
旅途 lǚtú - journey / trip I know a lot of words with 旅 like 旅游, 旅行, and 旅程, and I was also familiar with 途 via 路途 and 前途. So 旅途 was very easy for me to understand.
心愿 xīnyuàn - cherished desire / dream / craving / wish / aspiration 心愿 is similar in meaning to 愿望 and 意愿, which I already knew. I believe I first heard this word in the song 有点甜 by 汪苏泷 and BY2.
高傲 gāo'ào - arrogant / haughty / proud I heard this word in the song 寻宝 by 沈以诚. I’ve listened to this song many times, and one day it just clicked! It’s all thanks to the similar words 骄傲 and 傲慢.
安稳 ānwěn - smooth and steady There are so many words with 安 like 安定 and 平安. I also know some 稳 words, such as 稳定 and 平稳. So I was able to put two and two together for 安稳.
还原 huányuán - to restore to the original state / to reconstruct (an event) The meaning of 还 here is very familiar from 还给 and 还清. Also, I know a lot of words with 原: 原来, 原本, 原始, 原先.
选拔 xuǎnbá - to select the best There are so many 选 words I see all the time like 精选, 选举, and 选择. I also know 拔 from 拔苗助长 and 自拔, so I was able to piece together the overall meaning of 选拔.
解压 jiěyā - to relieve stress I’ve already learned the word 缓解 which is related in meaning. Also, I’ve learned 施压 (or 施加压力), which is basically the opposite of 解压.
感人 gǎnrén - touching / moving I think this word is pretty easy to put together if you know similar words like 感染, 感动, and 动人.
认输 rènshū - to concede / to admit defeat I distinctly remember hearing this word in the Tanya Chua song 救生圈. I think I was able to understand it thanks to knowing that 认 can mean to admit like in the words 承认 and 公认.
Here’s to many more of these satisfying moments in 2022!
Since making this post, I’ve been taking note of other instances. Below are 15 more words I was able to get from hearing alone.
离散 lísàn - (of family members) separated from one another / scattered about / dispersed Of course, I know many words with 离, such as 离开 and 脱离. I also know some words containing 散, like 分散 and 散发. So it’s not a big leap to figure out what 离散 means.
星体 xīngtǐ - celestial body (planet, satellite etc) I was able to guess the meaning of 星体 because I am already familiar with 星球, which has a very similar meaning. I know it from Star Wars, aka 星球大战! But 星体 is from the EXO-C version of History.
堆积 duījī - to pile up / to heap / accumulation I basically understand 堆积 as 堆满 plus 累积. These are two words which I’ve learned previously.
魅惑 mèihuò - to entice / to charm Here’s another example where I know two similar words that I can essentially “combine” to get 魅惑. The words I already knew are 魅力 and 诱惑.
插播 chābō - to interrupt (a radio or TV program) with a commercial insert, breaking news etc / to put a call on hold I know 播 from words like 广播 and 播放. I also know 插 primarily from the expression 插一句. And thanks to the context (I heard 插播 used while watching a Chinese TV show), I was able to put two and two together.
杂乱 záluàn - in a mess / in a jumble / chaotic 乱 is such a common character, I see it all the time. As for 杂, I know the word 嘈杂, and my brain seemed to think that was somehow similar, and I guess I was right? There aren’t many characters pronounced za after all.
掩埋 yǎnmái - to bury 埋 is a 多音字, and I know the mái reading from the word 埋葬. I don’t know 掩 as well, but I’ve encountered the word 掩盖, so I was able to guess that the yan I was hearing was probably 掩.
期盼 qīpàn - hope and expectation / to anticipate / to look forward to / to await expectantly 期盼 is very similar to the words 期望 and 盼望. I hear 期望 all the time. 盼望 is not a word I encounter as often, but I’m familiar enough with it.
任一 rènyī - any / either Don’t quote me on this, but I understand 任一 as essentially meaning 任何一个. They at least seem to be interchangeable in the contexts I’ve heard 任一 in so far. I either heard it in 青春有你3 or 创造营2021, I can’t remember.
见证 jiànzhèng - to be witness to / witness / evidence I already knew 证据, meaning proof or evidence, and I was vaguely aware of 证 being used in other words having to do with evidence and witnessing.
打散 dǎsàn - to scatter / to break sth up / to beat (an egg) Not gonna lie, I wouldn’t have guessed the beat an egg meaning, but I was able to approximate the other meaning(s). There are so many words starting with 打, so it’s a familiar structure.
支撑 zhīchēng - to prop up / to support / strut / brace If you watch the 创造营 series, you have heard the words 支持 and 撑腰 about five million times: party girl之道 姐妹为你撑腰~ 支撑 is very similar in meaning.
自律 zìlǜ - self-discipline / self-regulation / autonomy (ethics) / autonomic (physiology) I kinda know the word 纪律, meaning discipline. I think being familiar with how 自 is used in words like 自卫, 自学, etc. helped as well.
方位 fāngwèi - direction / points of the compass / bearing / position I think I heard this word in a song, but I can’t remember what song at the moment. I connected it to the words 方向 and 位置. And 百科 defines 方位 as 方向位置, so I was spot on!
停歇 tíngxiē - to stop for a rest I know many words containing 停, including 停止, 停留, and 暂停. I don’t think I actually know many words with 歇, but I was aware of its dictionary definition for some reason. Must have looked it up at some point.
Too many of these are from survival shows…I guess that shows that I am learning from them!
More recently I have wanted to revisit the idea behind those posts but with a different, more in-depth approach. I also made some decisions while compiling data for those posts that I now regret. So in late summer 2021, I set out to completely redo my data collection with the eventual goal of creating this very post.
About the Data
I will include more information about my data collection process at the end of this post for those interested.
I gathered 3,277 names (1602 male, 1675 female) from idol shows and groups. In the grand scheme of things, this is not a lot of names at all. But I think it’s enough that we can explore names, observe some generalities, and have fun! These names belong to individuals roughly 15-30 years old. Most names belong to individuals from Mainland China, but there are some Hong Konger and Taiwanese names as well.
Some of the name sources include:
偶像练习生/青春有你
创造101/创造营
明日之子
以团之名/少年之名
SNH48
快乐女声/快乐男声
菱格世代DD52
Various groups like 时代少年 and SING女团
I also wanted to note something important: the definitions I am using (via MDBG) are only the surface. For example, a name containing a character meaning jade might also have implications of beauty and virtue. So the meaning is more than just “jade.” However, it just isn’t practical to go into all the nitty gritty here. I encourage you to seek out more resources if you are interested.
Some Thanks
Thanks so much to @liu-anhuaming,@meichenxi, and my friend Tiffany for their help and advice during the process of creating this post! 非常感谢你们，你们是最棒的！
Given Names (Overall)
First let’s look at the most common characters for ALL the given names in the dataset. There were 1093 total unique characters across all the given names. I’m going to include more characters (almost rounding out the top 100) at the bottom of this post for those interested. There is also some information broken down by gender below.
Top Given Name Characters
宇 yǔ - room, universe / 87
子 zǐ - son, child, seed, egg, small thing, 1st earthly branch, midnight, 11th solar month, year of the Rat, fourth of five orders of nobility, ancient Chinese compass point / 82
佳 jiā - beautiful, fine, good / 68
雨 yǔ - rain / 63
嘉 jiā - excellent, auspicious, to praise, to commend / 59
泽 zé - pool, pond, (of metals etc) luster, favor or beneficence, damp, moist / 43
琪 qí - fine jade / 40
婷 tíng - graceful / 39
鑫 xīn - prosperity / 38
晓 xiǎo - dawn, daybreak, to know, to let sb know, to make explicit / 35
浩 hào - grand, vast (water) / 35
晨 chén - morning, dawn, daybreak / 34
恩 ēn - favor, grace, kindness / 33
博 bó - extensive, ample, rich, obtain, aim, to win, to get, plentiful / 32
慧 huì - intelligent / 32
明 míng - bright, clear, to understand, wise / 32
轩 xuān - pavilion with a view, high, tall / 32
辰 chén - 5th earthly branch, 3rd solar month, year of the Dragon, ancient Chinese compass point / 32
Top Given Name Characters (Female)
佳 jiā - beautiful, fine, good / 56
雨 yǔ - rain / 50
欣 xīn - happy / 49
怡 yí - harmony, pleased / 44
婷 tíng - graceful / 39
嘉 jiā - excellent, auspicious, to praise, to commend / 37
琪 qí - fine jade / 35
思 sī - to think, to consider / 33
慧 huì - intelligent / 31
梦 mèng - dream, to dream / 30
Top Given Name Characters (Male)
宇 yǔ - room, universe / 68
子 zǐ - son, child, seed, egg, small thing, 1st earthly branch, midnight, 11th solar month, year of the Rat, fourth of five orders of nobility, ancient Chinese compass point / 55
There were 668 single-character names, which is about 20% of the total names. I know that 单名 are pretty rare in Taiwan (I’m not sure about Hong Kong), so that’s something to keep in mind. More of the top 单名 are at the bottom of this post.
Top Single-Character Names
鑫 xīn - prosperity / 12
欣 xīn - happy / 10
洋 yáng - ocean, vast, foreign, silver dollar or coin / 9
静 jìng - still, calm, quiet, not moving / 7
丹 dān - red, pellet, powder, cinnabar / 6
娜 nà - graceful, elegant, beautiful / 6
恩 ēn - favor, grace, kindness / 6
敏 mǐn - quick, nimble, agile, clever, smart / 6
昕 xīn - dawn / 6
雪 xuě - snow / 6
颖 yǐng - head of grain, husk, tip, point, clever, gifted, outstanding / 6
Female Single-Character Names
欣 xīn - happy / 9
鑫 xīn - prosperity / 8
静 jìng - still, calm, quiet, not moving / 7
丹 dān - red, pellet, powder, cinnabar / 6
娜 nà - graceful, elegant, beautiful / 6
敏 mǐn - quick, nimble, agile, clever, smart / 6
雪 xuě - snow / 6
倩 qiàn - pretty, winsome / 5
洁 jié - clean / 5
颖 yǐng - head of grain, husk, tip, point, clever, gifted, outstanding / 5
Male Single-Character Names
洋 yáng - ocean, vast, foreign, silver dollar or coin / 7
超 chāo - to exceed, to overtake, to surpass, to transcend, to pass, to cross, ultra, super / 4
鑫 xīn - prosperity / 4
鹏 péng - large fabulous bird / 4
Two-Character Names (双名)
For the lists below, I removed all 单名 and just looked at 双名 characters. One of the things I was most excited to examine in this post was what characters tend to be found in the first vs. second positions. As you will see reflected below, some common characters used in names tend to occur more in one position, like 子 which is more prevalent in the first position. Others are more balanced. I bolded characters appearing in both positions.
Additional top 双名 can be found at the end of this post.
Top Two-Character Names
俊杰 jùnjié / 7
佳怡 jiāyí / 5
嘉欣 jiāxīn / 5
天宇 tiānyǔ / 5
浩然 hàorán / 5
婷婷 tíngtíng / 4
子杰 zǐjié / 4
安琪 ānqí / 4
Top First Characters
子 zǐ - son, child, seed, egg, small thing, 1st earthly branch, midnight, 11th solar month, year of the Rat, fourth of five orders of nobility, ancient Chinese compass point / 72
嘉 jiā - excellent, auspicious, to praise, to commend / 49
佳 jiā - beautiful, fine, good / 48
思 sī - to think, to consider / 44
一 yī - one, 1, single, a (article), as soon as, entire, whole, all, throughout / 40
俊 jùn - smart, eminent, handsome, talented / 40
雨 yǔ - rain / 36
天 tiān - day, sky, heaven / 34
宇 yǔ -room, universe / 34
晓 xiǎo - dawn, daybreak, to know, to let sb know, to make explicit / 34
子 zǐ - son, child, seed, egg, small thing, 1st earthly branch, midnight, 11th solar month, year of the Rat, fourth of five orders of nobility, ancient Chinese compass point / 54
俊 jùn - smart, eminent, handsome, talented / 35
一 yī - one, 1, single, a (article), as soon as, entire, whole, all, throughout / 26
浩 hào - grand, vast (water) / 24
泽 zé - pool, pond, (of metals etc) luster, favor or beneficence, damp, moist / 22
宇 yǔ - room, universe / 20
明 míng - bright, clear, to understand, wise / 20
天 tiān - day, sky, heaven / 19
嘉 jiā - excellent, auspicious, to praise, to commend / 18
泽 zé - pool, pond, (of metals etc) luster, favor or beneficence, damp, moist / 14
鑫 xīn - prosperity / 14
龙 lóng - dragon, imperial / 14
Comparing Characters by Position
After examining the most popular characters by position, I was curious to look more specifically at which characters appear in one position but not the other. In this section I decided not to include lists separated by gender because it was getting to be too much information.
Exclusively First Characters
Below are the top characters that never appeared in the second position.
晓 xiǎo - dawn, daybreak, to know, to let sb know, to make explicit / 34
小 xiǎo - small, tiny, few, young / 24
紫 zǐ - purple, violet / 16
美 měi - beautiful, very satisfactory, good, to beautify, to be pleased with oneself / 15
若 ruò - to seem, like, as if / 14
智 zhì - wisdom, knowledge / 13
书 shū - book, letter, document, to write / 11
婉 wǎn - graceful, tactful / 11
振 zhèn - to shake, to flap, to vibrate, to resonate, to rise up with spirit, to rouse oneself / 11
永 yǒng - forever, always, perpetual / 11
秋 qiū - autumn, fall, harvest time / 11
Largest Deltas (First Position)
I also wanted to see characters that were found in both positions but for which there was a big difference in occurrence. I bolded characters that appeared both here and in the list above.
The math is formatted: # times first position - # times second position = difference
子 zǐ - son, child, seed, egg, small thing, 1st earthly branch, midnight, 11th solar month, year of the Rat, fourth of five orders of nobility, ancient Chinese compass point / 72 - 10 = 62
思 sī - to think, to consider / 44 - 4 = 40
嘉 jiā - excellent, auspicious, to praise, to commend / 49 - 10 = 39
晓 xiǎo - dawn, daybreak, to know, to let sb know, to make explicit / 34 - 0 = 34
佳 jiā - beautiful, fine, good / 48 - 15 = 33
一 yī - one, 1, single, a (article), as soon as, entire, whole, all, throughout / 40 - 9 = 31
This section is more experimental and exploratory. There are probably better ways to examine the gender association for characters, but I just wanted to take a quick look for fun, not develop a whole new analysis technique.
Gender Neutral Characters
Here I simply took the average of the ranks of each character for male names and female names. If a character was only found in male names or only found in female names, it would just end up with the overall rank of N/A.
The math is formatted: (Female names rank + male names rank) ÷ 2 = average rank
子 zǐ - son, child, seed, egg, small thing, 1st earthly branch, midnight, 11th solar month, year of the Rat, fourth of five orders of nobility, ancient Chinese compass point (12th + 2nd) ÷ 2 = 7th (82 times)
嘉 jiā - excellent, auspicious, to praise, to commend (6th + 18th) ÷ 2 = 12th (59 times)
For this section, I looked at characters in female names that did not appear in male names. This isn’t a perfect technique, but I think it is still interesting to see the results.
依 yī - to depend on, to comply with or listen to sb, according to, in the light of / 35th (17 times)
妍 yán - beautiful / 36th (17 times)
媛 yuán - beautiful / 40th (16 times)
月 yuè - moon, month / 41st (16 times)
紫 zǐ - purple, violet / 43rd (16 times)
Male-Leaning Characters
Likewise, for this section I chose characters that appeared in male names but not female names. I actually know women with 龙 and 伟 in their names, so it’s important to remember that leaning male =/= only found in men’s names. There are always exceptions!
豪 háo - grand, heroic / 3rd (48 times)
浩 hào - grand, vast (water) / 7th (35 times)
龙 lóng - dragon, imperial / 28th (17 times)
伟 wěi - big, large, great / 36th (14 times)
峻 jùn - (of mountains) high, harsh or severe / 38th (13 times)
成 chéng - to succeed, to finish, to complete, to accomplish, to become, to turn into, to be all right, one tenth / 48th (12 times)
振 zhèn - to shake, to flap, to vibrate, to resonate, to rise up with spirit, to rouse oneself / 53rd (11 times)
飞 fēi - to fly / 54th (11 times)
While looking at gender was fun, in the future I’d really like to look at tones/tone combinations, open vs. close syllables, and more. I’m still thinking about the best way to do this.
Surnames
Since surname rankings are actually known, I thought it would be interesting to briefly compare my dataset to the true populations.
What stood out to me most was 林 making #7 on my list. I suspect this is due to the inclusion of Taiwanese names. In Mainland China it actually ranks around #16 I believe. 赵 didn’t make the top 10, but I think it was actually #11, so that’s not too far off.
About the Data Cont’
For my original posts 1.5 years ago, I had difficulty maintaining a gender balance and decided to add male names from other types of sources as a supplement. I have since regretted that choice, so this time I worked hard to maintain balance without using unrelated sources. One result of this is that there are names in the original dataset that do not appear in this dataset, so even though the new dataset has more names, it’s possible that there could be fewer occurrences of some characters.
I did my best to remove duplicate individuals (not duplicate names!) and remove stage names that do not sound like real names (or replace them with real names). However, I did not try to swap out all stage names for birth names because that would have been too difficult and time consuming. I also made the assumption that any four-character name could be segmented into two surname characters and two given name characters.
It’s important to note that these names are not necessarily representative of the 15-30 population as a whole. Idols or trainees might change their names to something sounding more cool or hip, and like I mentioned, it simply wasn’t feasible for me to find everyone’s birth name. And my data collection didn’t take into account things like geography/population spread or keep track of ages (but I did for the most part avoid any shows older than 5 years and groups with members 30+).
Extended Lists
Top Given Name Characters
28 星 xīng - star, heavenly body / 31 29 梦 mèng - dream, to dream / 31 30 倩 qiàn - pretty, winsome / 29 31 涵 hán - to contain, to include, culvert / 29 32 艺 yì - skill, art / 29 33 雅 yǎ - elegant / 29 34 雪 xuě - snow / 29 35 君 jūn - monarch, lord, gentleman, ruler / 28 36 翔 xiáng - to soar, to glide / 27 37 霖 lín - continued rain / 27 38 哲 zhé - wise, a sage / 26 39 梓 zǐ - Catalpa kaempferi (type of tree), printing blocks / 26 40 羽 yǔ - feather, 5th note in pentatonic scale / 26 41 诗 shī - poem, poetry, verse / 26 42 凯 kǎi - triumphant, victorious / 25 43 家 jiā - home, family / 24 44 小 xiǎo - small, tiny, few, young / 24 45 洋 yáng - ocean, vast, foreign, silver dollar or coin / 24 46 铭 míng - to engrave, inscribed motto / 24 47 奕 yì - abundant, graceful / 23 48 柏 bó - cedar, cypress / 23 49 静 jìng - still, calm, quiet, not moving / 23 50 馨 xīn - fragrant / 23 51 丹 dān - red, pellet, powder, cinnabar / 22 52 安 ān - content, calm, still, quiet, safe, secure, in good health, to pacify, to harbor (good intentions), security, safety, peace / 22 53 洁 jié - clean / 22 54 然 rán - correct, right, so, thus, like this / 22 55 瑶 yáo - jade, precious stone, mother-of-pearl, nacre, precious / 22 56 心 xīn - heart, mind, intention, center, core / 21 57 扬 yáng - to raise, to hoist, scattering (in the wind), to flutter / 21 58 玉 yù - jade / 21 59 阳 yáng - sun, male principle / 21 60 源 yuán - root, source, origin / 20 61 琦 qí - curio, valuable stone / 20 62 瑞 ruì - lucky, auspicious, propitious, rayl / 20 63 莹 yíng - luster of gems / 20 64 丽 lì - beautiful / 19 65 宁 níng - peaceful, to pacify / 19 66 语 yǔ - dialect, language, speech / 19 67 云 yún - cloud / 18 68 敏 mǐn - quick, nimble, agile, clever, smart / 18 69 琳 lín - gem / 18 70 睿 ruì - astute, perspicacious, farsighted / 18 71 菲 fēi - luxuriant (plant growth), rich with fragrance / 18 72 辉 huī - splendor, to shine upon / 18 73 颖 yǐng - head of grain, husk, tip, point, clever, gifted, outstanding / 18 74 依 yī - to depend on, to comply with or listen to sb, according to, in the light of / 17 75 妍 yán - beautiful / 17 76 希 xī - to hope, to admire / 17 77 昊 hào - vast and limitless, the vast sky / 17 78 超 chāo - to exceed, to overtake, to surpass, to transcend, to pass, to cross, ultra, super / 17 79 龙 lóng - dragon, imperial / 17 80 东 dōng - east , host / 16 81 凡 fán - ordinary, commonplace, mundane, temporal, of the mortal world, all, whatever, altogether, gist, outline, note of Chinese musical scale / 16 82 媛 yuán - beautiful / 16 83 宏 hóng - great, magnificent / 16 84 志 zhì - aspiration, ambition, the will / 16 85 昕 xīn - dawn / 16 86 月 yuè - moon, month / 16 87 瑜 yú - excellence, luster of gems / 16 88 紫 zǐ - purple, violet / 16 89 航 háng - boat, ship, craft, to navigate, to sail, to fly / 16 90 钰 yù - treasure, hard metal / 16 91 雯 wén - multicolored clouds / 16 92 元 yuán - currency unit, first, original, primary, fundamental, constituent, part, era / 15 93 廷 tíng - palace courtyard / 15 94 承 chéng - to bear, to carry, to hold, to continue, to undertake, to take charge, owing to, due to, to receive / 15 95 晴 qíng - clear, fine (weather) / 15 96 美 měi - beautiful, very satisfactory, good, to beautify, to be pleased with oneself / 15 97 言 yán - words, speech, to say, to talk / 15 98 逸 yì - to escape, leisurely, outstanding / 15
Well, if you made it to the end, congratulations! You are a brave soul. But seriously, thanks so much for reading all of this monster of a post. I hope you leave knowing at least a bit more about Chinese names.
I remembering seeing this music video pop up in my recommendations on YouTube back in middle school. It was everywhere, but I don’t think I ever clicked on it! A song called “Rainie Love” just didn’t appeal to me. Finally this year after seeing Rainie Yang on 乘风破浪的姐姐2 and seeing Li Ronghao (her husband) on 青春有你3, I thought I should listen to this iconic song. I was pleasantly surprised—the song isn’t groundbreaking or anything, but it has more umph to it than a plain piano ballad. Seems like it would be fun for a karaoke night too.
杨丞琳 (Rainie Yang) - 雨爱
窗外的天气 就像是你多变的表情 下雨了 雨陪我哭泣 看不清 我也不想看清
多变 duōbiàn - fickle / frequently-changing
离开你 我安静的抽离 不忍揭晓的剧情 我的泪流在心里 学会放弃
抽离 chōulí - to remove / to step back from involvement / to disengage 不忍 bùrěn - cannot bear to / disturbed 揭晓 jiēxiǎo - to announce publicly / to publish / to make known / to disclose 剧情 jùqíng - storyline / plot / drama (genre)
听雨的声音 一滴滴清晰 你的呼吸像雨滴渗入我的爱里 真希望雨能下不停 让想念继续 让爱变透明 我爱上给我勇气的 Rainie Love
In your Chinese studies you’ve probably learned: 红色、橙色、黄色、绿色、蓝色、紫色、灰色、白色、黑色、咖啡色、粉红色
But there are so many beautiful colors out there! Let’s learn some more. These are color terms I’ve come across outside Chinese class.
In general you can indicate a light shade with 浅 and a dark shade with 深. I have also seen 墨 for dark and 淡 for light, but when I Googled various color terms, there were more results for 浅 and 深 than 淡 and 墨.
I spent way too much time messing with HTML to color the text to match (except for the shades of white).
褐色 hèsè - brown
橘黄色 júhuángsè - orange
奶油色 nǎiyóusè - cream
金黄色 jīnhuángsè - gold color
朱红色 zhūhóngsè - vermilion
米色 mǐsè - beige
棕色 zōngsè - brown
青色 qīngsè - cyan / blue-green
灰白 huībái - light gray / ash-colored
蔚蓝 wèilán - azure / sky blue
纯白 chúnbái - pure white
雪白 xuěbái - snow white
洁白 jiébái - spotlessly white / pure white
漆黑 qīhēi - pitch-black
铜色 tóngsè - copper
乌黑 wūhēi - jet-black / dark
靛色 diànsè - indigo (color)
金色 jīnsè - golden / gold (color)
银色 yínsè - silver (color)
Here are some single characters I’ve seen as well. Some of these are commonly used in names, like 彤 and 丹.
彤 tóng - red
丹 dān - red / pellet / powder / cinnabar
缇 tí - orange-red silk / orange-red colored
赤 chì - red / scarlet / bare / naked
碧 bì - green jade / bluish green / blue / jade
翠 cuì - bluish-green / green jade
皓 hào - bright / luminous / white (esp. bright white teeth of youth or white hair of old age)
颢 hào - bright / white
玄 xuán - black / mysterious
彤, 丹, and 缇 are all described as a red-orange color. I’m not really sure of the difference, so I just made them all the same shade. I’m also unclear on exact distinction between 褐色 and 棕色. Image search results certainly suggest that they are used differently. Not sure how 咖啡色 fits in either.
I stumbled across this giant Wikipedia table with many beautiful colors that you can check out to learn more!
Eason Chan is an iconic Hong Kong singer with many Cantopop and Mandopop albums. I first heard this song on Youth With You 3 when it was covered in the first performance round. Honestly I didn’t think their cover was that good…but I could tell instantly that I would like the original version of the song. I guess that says a lot about the quality of this song! It’s a rock song that starts somber and slow but then quickly builds. Sadly this song isn’t on US Spotify (there are covers though, as well as another great Eason Chan song with a title that has a similar vibe 《陪你度过漫长岁月》). Really the only flaw is that it’s a short song at only a bit over 3 minutes, so I’m always left wishing it were longer!
陈奕迅 (Eason Chan) - 让我留在你身边
我从来不说话 因为我害怕 没有人回答 我从来不挣扎 因为我知道 这世界太大
挣扎 zhēngzhá - to struggle
太多时间浪费 太多事要面对 太多已无所谓 太多难辨真伪太多纷扰是非在你身边是谁
辨 biàn - to distinguish / to recognize 真伪 zhēnwěi - true or bogus / authenticity 纷扰 fēnrǎo - turmoil / unrest / disturbance 是非 shìfēi - right and wrong / quarrel
I’ve decided that at least for a couple months I’ll increasing my Learning Chinese with Lyrics posts to twice a month. I know they aren’t usually as popular, but I have a backlog of songs/lyrics to share!
As I mentioned in my recent Mandopop recs post, I’ve been listening to Li Ronghao lately. This song in particular has been stuck in my head a lot. I find the lyrics to be very moving and poignant. A sense of loss truly comes through. And thankfully, the lyrics are also relatively simple, so it’s easy to learn them. This song is nearly 5 minutes long, but it doesn’t feel too long or dragged out to me at all. To my knowledge, this song isn’t Li Ronghao’s biggest hit (that honor seems to go to 年少有为), but it’s still pretty popular. And my favorite by him right now.
锋芒 fēngmáng - tip (of pencil, spear etc) / sharp point / cutting edge / spearhead / vanguard 倾诉 qīngsù - to say everything (that is on one’s mind) 结账 jiézhàng - to pay the bill / to settle accounts *also written 结帐 优良 yōuliáng - fine / good / first-rate
忍耐 rěnnài - to endure / to bear with / to exercise patience / to restrain oneself / patience / endurance 戒烟 jièyān - to give up smoking 染上 rǎnshàng - to catch (a disease) / to get (a bad habit)
年度 niándù - year (e.g. school year, fiscal year) / annual
专辑 | 專輯 zhuānjí - album / record (music)
奖 | 獎 jiǎng - prize / award
最佳 zuìjiā - optimum / optimal / peak / best (athlete, movie etc)
华语 | 華語 huáyǔ - Chinese language
台语 | 台語 táiyǔ - Taiwanese / Hokkien
客语 | 客語 kèyǔ - Hakka language (客家语)
原住民 yuánzhùmín - indigenous peoples / aborigine
作曲 zuòqǔ - to compose (music)
作词 | 作詞 zuòcí - to write or compose lyrics
编曲 | 編曲 biānqǔ - to compose (music) / arrangement
制作 | 製作 zhìzuò - to make / to manufacture / to produce
单曲 | 單曲 dānqǔ - single (recording industry)
乐团 | 樂團 yuètuán - band / orchestra
新人 xīnrén - newcomer / fresh talent
Here are some names of actual awards that we can now read!
年度专辑奖 | 年度專輯獎 = Album of the Year
年度歌曲奖 | 年度歌曲獎 = Song of the Year
最佳华语专辑奖 | 最佳華語專輯獎 = Best Mandarin Album
最佳台语专辑奖 | 最佳台語專輯獎 = Best Taiwanese Album
最佳客语专辑奖 | 最佳客語專輯獎 = Best Hakka Album
最佳原住民语专辑奖 | 最佳原住民語專輯獎 = Best Aboriginal Album
最佳作曲人奖 | 最佳作曲人獎 = Best Composition
最佳作词人奖 | 最佳作詞人獎 = Best Lyrics/Lyricist
最佳编曲人奖 | 最佳編曲人獎 = Best Music Arrangement
最佳专辑制作人奖 | 最佳專輯製作人獎 = Producer of the Year, Album
最佳单曲制作人奖 | 最佳單曲製作人獎 = Producer of the Year, Single
最佳乐团奖 | 最佳樂團獎 = Best Band
最佳新人奖 | 最佳新人獎 = Best New Artist
I think 华语 can refer to Chinese languages beyond just Mandarin, but in this case and a lot of other cases, it is used to mean Mandarin. I’ve read that the term 华语 is commonly used in Singapore and Malaysia. It’s also often found in the term 华语乐坛/歌坛 (Chinese music world).
Here is some other good vocab to know:
提名 tímíng - to nominate
入围 | 入圍 rùwéi - to get past the qualifying round / to make it to the finals
演唱 yǎnchàng - sung performance / to sing for an audience
演奏 yǎnzòu - to perform on a musical instrument
奖项 | 獎項 jiǎngxiàng - award / prize
得奖 | 得獎 déjiǎng - to win a prize
届 | 屆 jiè - classifier for events, meetings, elections, sporting fixtures, years (of graduation)
本届 | 本屆 běnjiè - current / this year
颁奖典礼 | 頒獎典禮 bānjiǎng diǎnlǐ - award ceremony
名单 | 名單 míngdān - list of names
I have noticed that the GMAs usually use 入围 instead of 提名 to talk about nominations. I’m not really sure why.
The award ceremony will be held in Kaohsiung in July. I don’t plan on watching, but I’m excited to see who wins nonetheless.
I was finding it hard to naturally assimilate certain new vocab into muscle memory/everyday use. So I thought I would try an approach that would allow me to remember vocab + as well as characters, in the long term. And be able to integrate it into my everyday life contextually.
I will be doing the same for my korean vocab under the K-SERIES!
