Lu Posted March 25, 2008 at 12:07 PM Report Share Posted March 25, 2008 at 12:07 PM 萬靈丹 wan4ling2dan1 first I thought it was someone's name, but it actually means panacea, the one cure for everything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roddy Posted April 6, 2008 at 01:02 PM Author Report Share Posted April 6, 2008 at 01:02 PM Looks like we neglected this one for a week or so . . . 只消， zhǐxiāo, need only to . . . 消 here being a contraction of 需要, similar to 甭 I guess. Hadn't seen that before, or at least registered it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roddy Posted April 7, 2008 at 09:47 AM Author Report Share Posted April 7, 2008 at 09:47 AM 步话机, bùhuàjī - go on . . guess . . . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yersi Posted April 8, 2008 at 03:32 PM Report Share Posted April 8, 2008 at 03:32 PM Hah, I gave up and googled 步话机. Can it be used with people or does it mean just that Hello Kitty toy? Came over a new word today while reading an article about the Bear Sterns bail-out 挹注 - yi4zhu4 Means to take something from a surplus to fill a shortage somewhere else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roddy Posted April 8, 2008 at 03:41 PM Author Report Share Posted April 8, 2008 at 03:41 PM 胴体, dòngtǐ, trunk (of a body, especially a slaughtered animal), according to the ABC. According to Google image search it seems to be used more for that of the lesser-clothed female. (sh) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skylee Posted April 8, 2008 at 03:51 PM Report Share Posted April 8, 2008 at 03:51 PM does it mean walkie-talkie? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zhwj Posted April 9, 2008 at 05:41 AM Report Share Posted April 9, 2008 at 05:41 AM And according to Baidu image search, 胴体 doesn't mean much of anything.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lu Posted April 10, 2008 at 07:46 AM Report Share Posted April 10, 2008 at 07:46 AM 跨性別 kua4xing4bie2 transgender 變性人 bian4xing4ren2 transsexual I'm not entirely sure what the difference is. Thought I had figured it out with explanations on wikipedia: transgender is anyone who doesn't identify with their birth sex, while transsexuals are people who really change their gender, either with or without operation. But then when I sent the translation (it was about the pregnant man) up to the author she changed some of the terms, and now I'm still left confused. I suppose if I run into a trans-anything I'll just deal with the terms on an individual basis :-p Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam Addington Posted April 14, 2008 at 09:59 PM Report Share Posted April 14, 2008 at 09:59 PM Define 拚: [ pàn, pīn ] [ 国标码:DED5 部首:扌 笔画:8 笔顺:12154132 ] 1. reject 2. disregard Relative explainations: Examples: 1. 他继续这样拚命地工作，就会累垮的。 If he doesn't stop working so hard, he'll burn himself out. I am trying to read 棋王。I found it in there 我们学校与旁边几个中学常常有学生之间的象棋厮杀，后来拚出几个高手。几个高手之间常摆擂台，渐渐地，几乎每次冠军就都是王一生了。 I think it may have a different meaning here. In another dictionary I found to go all out; to try very hard to Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heifeng Posted April 15, 2008 at 09:35 AM Report Share Posted April 15, 2008 at 09:35 AM 造孽： zao4nie4 do evil, commit a sin: from 错爱，a tv series that i find really disturbing for some reason, yet still don't just switch to another channel...(i think their 后妈is kinda crazy:( ) 沦：lun2: sink to, be reduced to: 沦为乞丐，沦落街头，沦落异乡 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heifeng Posted April 16, 2008 at 06:17 AM Report Share Posted April 16, 2008 at 06:17 AM this will be by far the most useful word on this thread: 鱼嘴鞋: yu2zui3xie2: open toe shoes, like these oh yeah, and on the other end of the spectrum...there is this chengyu: 沆瀣一气: hang4xie4yi1qi4 :act in collusion with;wallow in the mire with, which is pretty easy to spot in recent headlines about those two places that start with a "T" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cdn_in_bj Posted April 16, 2008 at 07:06 AM Report Share Posted April 16, 2008 at 07:06 AM 星國 Xing1guo2 Singapore. It appears to be newspaper-speak. I've also seen it referred to as 星州. As in, 星州炒米粉 (Singapore fried noodles). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yersi Posted April 16, 2008 at 10:54 AM Report Share Posted April 16, 2008 at 10:54 AM 髮辮: fa1bian4: braids, plaits. Found it in an article about the economic rise of Africa: 紮著非洲式髮辮 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heifeng Posted April 16, 2008 at 11:29 AM Report Share Posted April 16, 2008 at 11:29 AM I'm 'pretty' sure fa is 4th tone here... true, this can be a bit confusing if it was in simplified since it's just written as 发 however since this is fa as in toufa here it should be 4th..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yersi Posted April 16, 2008 at 11:45 AM Report Share Posted April 16, 2008 at 11:45 AM We're both wrong, I think. My dictionary lists it as fa3. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heifeng Posted April 16, 2008 at 11:52 AM Report Share Posted April 16, 2008 at 11:52 AM hmmm third tone!? it says forth here I'm gonna look at a different dictionary now too though.. ok, also listed as 4th and there are only 2 pronunciations of fa with third tone..neither of which is that particular fa... i'm more doubtful of the 3rd tone than I was of the 1st tone:mrgreen: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imron Posted April 16, 2008 at 12:06 PM Report Share Posted April 16, 2008 at 12:06 PM My 现代汉语词典 also says fàbiàn. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gougou Posted April 16, 2008 at 12:08 PM Report Share Posted April 16, 2008 at 12:08 PM How about a "random tone of the day" thread? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heifeng Posted April 16, 2008 at 12:20 PM Report Share Posted April 16, 2008 at 12:20 PM hehehe...we need a computer game that shoots down characters when we get the tone correct. anyway, this lil' tone exercise did lead me to another random word: 天平 tian1ping2, a balance, where the 砝码fa3ma3 is the metal weight that you put on one side of the balance..,ie 标准砝码Standard Weight Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skylee Posted April 16, 2008 at 01:23 PM Report Share Posted April 16, 2008 at 01:23 PM The fa3 bian4 vs fa4 bian4 thing is a taiwan standard vs mainland standard thing. This is from a Taiwan Ministry of Education website -> http://140.111.34.46/cgi-bin/newDict/dict.sh?idx=dict.idx&cond=%BEv%C4%7C&pieceLen=50&fld=1&cat=&imgFont=1 髮辮 注音一式 ㄈㄚˇ ㄅ｜ㄢˋ 將頭髮交互纏繞編成的辮子。如：「她把長髮結成髮辮，辮稍綁上蝴蝶結，顯得俏麗可愛。」 Here is a relevant thread -> Characters with different pronunciations on Mainland / Taiwan And a useful list here -> http://zhongwen.com/x/guopu.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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