#language lesson

I first started looking into variant characters more extensively after the frustration of some of these variants messing with my pop-up dictionary extension. Sometimes the same word will be included in the dictionary with both the standard and variant versions, but sometimes the variant version isn’t included, and my extension won’t recognize the word. That’s why I think it can be useful to be familiar with these variant forms.

Variants I See in Traditional Chinese

布 / 佈
I have seen 佈 used in traditional Chinese as a variant of 布. An example might be seeing 佈滿 for 布满.

念 / 唸
MDBG seems to suggest that 唸 is a variant of 念 just meaning to read aloud. But I know I’ve seen 唸 used in traditional Chinese to talk about going to school like 唸大學 and 唸書. I’m not sure if what MDBG says is inaccurate or if people use 唸 is a way that is technically inaccurate.

周 / 週
It’s important to note that 週 is a traditional Chinese variant of 周 only for the meaning of week. So you might see 週末, but you shouldn’t see 週 used for the surname or the word 周围.

分 / 份
I think I have seen 份 used for 分 in both simplified and traditional Chinese. Unlike some of the other examples above, 份 also has meaning/usage outside of being a variant of 分. Also, I am pretty sure that 份 is only a variant of 分 for the 4th tone pronunciation (meaning part, share, ingredient, component).

占 / 佔
占 has two meanings/pronunciations. To my knowledge, 佔 is only a variant for the fourth tone pronunciation. But also I don’t know any words with first tone 占. I’ve seen 佔 used in traditional Chinese for words like 佔據 (占据).

什 / 甚
In traditional Chinese, you might see 甚 used for 什, like in 甚麼 (什么). In simplified Chinese, this variant can still be found in words like 甚至 (but the pronunciation is different).

才/ 纔
This variant form of 才 is used in traditional Chinese, but only for the meaning of just now, only. However, I rarely see it. And looking at  it, I don’t blame people for not wanting to write 纔.

台 / 臺
This example can be a bit political. You may see Taiwan written as 台灣 or 臺灣 in traditional Chinese. I believe 臺灣 is more formal/official, but you’ll definitely see 台灣 all the time.

向 / 嚮
嚮 is a variant of 向 in traditional Chinese, but (apparently) only for the meaning ​​to tend toward, to guide. As a result, 方向 is the same in traditional Chinese, but 面向 is 面嚮. However, it’s possible that this rule doesn’t hold up in real life usage. I’m definitely going to be on the lookout for exceptions. Also, MDBG tells me that there is another traditional variant 曏, but I’ve personally never encountered this character.

姐 / 姊
Apparently 姊 is pronounced zi in the Mainland, but it’s jie in Taiwan, which I know from A-Mei’s album and song 姊妹. I don’t think 姊 is officially considered a variant of 姐 (at least in the Mainland), but I think it is important to know 姊 and wanted to include it.

烟 / 菸
I haven’t seen the 菸 variant much. I only know it from the song 二手菸/二手烟 by Tanya Chua. It took me a long time to figure out what the song was even called because I had no idea 菸 was a form of 烟.

Multiple Varying Traditional Forms

尝：嘗 / 嚐
From how the dictionary lists things, it seems like 嘗 is the more standard traditional form of 尝, with 嚐 being a variant. But honestly I feel like I’ve seen 嚐 as much or more than I’ve seen 嘗.

里：裡 / 裏
裡 and 裏 are both traditional forms of 里 for the inside/interior meaning. I see both of these forms so often, but my feeling is that I see 裡 a bit more frequently.

骂：罵 / 駡
I’m actually not sure which traditional character form I see most in this case. Since 駡 looks more similar to the simplified version, it’s hard for me to tell.

锈：銹 / 鏽
I first encountered 鏽 in a song title, with the song being Tanya Chua’s 生锈的游乐场. It took me an embarrassingly long amount of time to identify that this character was a variant of 锈.

赞：贊 / 讚
To me, it seems like the 讚 variant is more common than 贊. When I look at YouTube comments written in traditional Chinese, I feel like I always see 讚. I’m not sure about other situations though.

系：係 / 繫
This situation is a bit confusing and different than the ones above. It looks like in traditional Chinese, 係 and 繫 are two different characters that in simplified Chinese are both written 系. However, these two characters are similar in meaning (to connect), so as a result, the word 联系 can be written as 聯繫 or 聯係 in traditional characters. Additionally, there is another meaning of 系 (system) that is also just 系 in traditional Chinese. So, 关系 can be written 關係 or 關系 in traditional characters. I’m pretty sure I see 係 more often. But honestly it’s possible I’ve seen 聯繫 and didn’t realize it was 联系.

复：複 / 復 / 覆
This one really confuses me at times. My understanding is that 複 and 復 are different characters in traditional Chinese that are both written as 复 in simplified Chinese. But they have similar meanings (both can mean to repeat), so you get things like:
复习：復習 / 複習
Then there is also 覆, which has it own meaning but can also be a variant of 复. From this, we get:
重复：重複 / 重覆
反复：反復 / 反覆
答复：答復 / 答覆
I think I’ve confused myself again. That’s enough for now.

墙：牆 / 墻
I don’t have a specific impression of which variant for traditional Chinese 墙 is more common, but I can say that Pleco defaults to showing 牆 for a lot of words for me, even though the font I selected only supports 墻 not 牆.

线： 線 / 綫
I’m pretty sure I see the 線 form used more in traditional Chinese writing. It always throws me off because I connect it with 泉 and not 线.

迹：跡 / 蹟
Interestingly, on MDBG, 跡 is overwhelming used for the traditional form of 迹, with a notable exception being 蹟 for the word 古迹|古蹟. I am not sure of the reason behind this. And when I Googled 古跡, all the top results were Japanese.

Variants Found in Names

杰 / 傑
This one is kinda confusing. 傑 is the traditional form of 杰, but there is a variant that is 杰 in both simplified and traditional Chinese. That’s why you don’t see 傑 in Jay Chou’s name 周杰倫–his name uses the variant version that doesn’t have a different traditional form. However, JJ Lin/林俊杰 would be written with 傑 in traditional Chinese, so be careful.

俊 / 隽|雋
I was very confused when I first encountered 隽 because I thought it was pronounced juan. However, I can say from experience that I’ve more often heard it pronounced jun. With this pronunciation, it’s considered a variant of 俊. I don’t think I have ever heard it pronounced juan.

沉 / 沈
You may recognize 沈 as the surname Shen, but it can also be a variant of 沉. I’ve seen it used in words like 沈默. I’ve typically see 沈 used in traditional Chinese.

睿 / 叡
These characters are both commonly used in names, with 叡 being a variant of 睿. But it’s important that you use the correct variant–characters in names shouldn’t be treated as interchangeable.

坤 / 堃
I actually first encountered 堃 on someone’s name on Facebook. They really look nothing alike, so I was very puzzled when I first saw 堃.

哲 / 喆
These two are also often found in names, like the famous singer 陶喆 for instance. 哲 is more common in my experience.

彬 / 斌
This example is interesting because I feel like I see 斌 as much or even more than 彬 in names. Obviously this might not be representative, but I’m definitely going to pay more attention to this in the future.

宁|寧 / 甯
寧 is the traditional form of 宁. 甯 is a variant that is written the same in simplified and traditional Chinese. I’ve seen it occasionally in names.

艳：艷 / 豔 / 艶 / 豓
RIP to anyone from the traditional character using areas with this character in their name. Anyway, it looks like 艷 is the “standard” traditional form of 艳, but I’ve also seen 豔 here and there. I am not use if I have see 艶 because it’s so similar-looking to 艷. Pretty sure I have never seen 豓 used, but I thought I would included it anyway.

闫|閆 / 阎|閻
According to Wikipedia, the surname 闫 was created from the surname 阎 during the failed second round of character simplification. However, 闫 stuck around. Now you can find both characters in use as surnames (but I’m assuming 闫 is not found outside of Mainland China).

璇 / 璿
Based on my own observations, 璇 is much more common than 璿. I would have guessed 璿 was pronounced rui!

钟|鍾 / 锺|鍾
According to Wikipedia, two distinct characters, 鐘 and 鍾 were merged into the simplified character 钟. However, 鐘 and 鍾 were two distinct surnames (鐘 was less common), meaning that these two surnames were merged. Thus, 锺 was introduced as an alternate simplified version of 鍾 to disambiguate the surnames. However, 锺 is apparently not used much, seeing as people had already adopted 钟 as their surname.

升 / 昇
I see 昇 often enough on when I’m reading something in traditional characters. I also think it’s a very pretty character. Interestingly, I noticed that for some celebs from Taiwan who write their names with 昇, Baike used 升 but the simplified characters version of Wikipedia used 昇. But the late Alien Huang (黄鸿升) only has the 升 form everywhere.

彩 / 采
采 can be the simplified form of traditional 採 or a variant of 彩. I realized this recently when I noticed that some celebrity names like 郭采洁 and 采子/谢采纹 still use the 采 form when written in traditional characters. But in actual words, I’m not sure how interchangeable 彩 and 采 are. I don’t get many photos of rainbows when I search 采虹 for example.

These are 3 歇后语 we learned in my advanced Chinese class during the spring semester. 歇后语 are an interesting type of saying with two parts. The first part is a bit like a setup, and the second part is kind of an explanation. Sometimes you can just say the first part, and the second is inferred/understood. They are often witty and funny.

水仙不开花——装蒜
Shuǐxiān bù kāihuā——zhuāngsuàn
to act stupid, to play dumb, to pretend to not know

Explanation:
水仙 = daffodil
开花 = bloom
蒜 = garlic
A daffodil that hasn’t bloomed looks kind of like garlic.

铁公鸡——一毛不拔
tiěgōngjī yīmáobùbá
cheapskate, stingy

Explanation:
公鸡 = rooster
拔 = to pull out
If it’s an iron rooster, you can’t even pull off one feather.

哑巴吃黄连——有苦说不出
yǎbachīhuánglián yǒukǔshuōbuchū
to be forced to suffer in silence

Explanation:
哑巴 = a mute person
黄连 = a bitter herb used in Chinese medicine
A mute person who eats this herb cannot say how bitter it is, which is likened to having a pain or hardship you can’t speak of.