毯 and 氈

[Ian_Lee]

Another pair of confusing words is 毯 and 氈

First of all, isn't 毯 a simplified form of 氈? (I always think so.)

Second, according to dictionary, in Putonghua, 毯 is pronounced as tan while 氈 is pronounced as zhan.

However, according to dictionary, in Cantonese, 毯 is prouounced as taam while 氈 as jin.

But in Hong Kong, 毯 and 氈 are interchangeable and everybody pronounces both words as jin.

In Mainland, do they distinguish between 毯 and 氈? (Arent' they the same thing?)

[Quest]

氈 is not used in Mandarin.

[Ian_Lee]

I guess they still distinguish between 毯 and 氈 in Taiwan.

My reasonable guess is that one character refers to carpet (the kind that paves on the ground) while the other refers to the rug (hanging on the wall kind).

[trooper]

According to my dictionary (simplified characters only), tan3 is 毯 and zhan1 is 毡.

毯 means carpet

毡 means felt, not carpet, e.g. 毡子 means felt rug, or felt blanket.

[nnt]

According to the 辞源:

毯 is tan3 (carpet) and has a variant with 毛 on the right: [炎毛] in radical 毛 .

氈 and 氊 are variants (zhan1 simplified 毡). The three last characters can also be seen in 汉英大辞典 (2 vol) from 上海交通大学出版社

[hparade]

good, it's clear now