Random new word of the day

[roddy]

贴己, tiējǐ - close, intimate. I think that's a nice word.

[jbradfor]

仔 doesn't = zǎi in Mandarin. "zǎi" = borrowed from Cantonese. Normally, 仔 = zǐ, most possibly taken from 子.

It's zǎi in MDBG, and for 牛仔 as well. From MDBG, 仔 is also a variant for 崽, which is pronounced zǎi, and also means child / young animal. trien27, do you have a reference for which way it should be pronounced before you said it is wrong? If so, I'll submit a correction.

[Daan]

In Mandarin, 仔 is certainly pronounced as zǎi in both niúzǎi 牛仔 and niúzǎikù 牛仔裤, as well as in gǒuzǎiduì 狗仔队 'paparazzi'. MDBG is completely right. I've never heard anyone say *niúzǐ, *niúzǐkù or *gǒuzǐduì.

[roddy]

凑字, còuzì - not sure this should strictly speaking count as a word, but it's what you can type when you haven't reached the necessary character count for, eg, a forum post or blog comment. Example.

[roddy]

整体主义, zhěngtǐzhǔyì - holism.

[renzhe]

Some more computer jargon:

默认 = default

协议 = (software) license

补丁 = (software) patch

[Daan]

休憩 xiūqì 'to take a rest'

The second character seems to be rare enough that a Taiwanese native speaker I asked didn't have a clue how to pronounce it. It was on a sign right next to her stall, so I presume she sees it every day, but she still had to ask another native speaker before she could tell me it was pronounced qì.

[roddy]

露富, lòufù, to give away that you have riches you would rather keep secret. From this article, which is part of a double page spread in today's 新京报 on the absolutely-not-prostitution-at-all sector. Main one is here if you want it.

[HedgePig]

水痘 shuǐdòu - chickenpox

This vocabulary acquired the hard way. I definitely have 水痘. (Yes, adults can get 水痘 too!)

Bonus word: 麻疹 mázhěn - measles. At least I do not have this as well.

[roddy]

港府, gǎngfǔ - abbreviation for 香港政府, the Hong Kong government. Anyone want to explain why it's not 香政?

Get well soon (already?) Hedgepig.

[Guoke]

菅直人 - Kan Naoto, the new Prime Minister of Japan.

菅 jiān

多年生草本植物，叶子多毛，细长而尖，茎、叶可以作造纸原料

[skylee]

菅 jiān

多年生草本植物，叶子多毛，细长而尖，茎、叶可以作造纸原料

菅 also appears in 草菅人命.

港府, gǎngfǔ - abbreviation for 香港政府, the Hong Kong government. Anyone want to explain why it's not 香政?

The US government is also called 華府. I suppose no one could explain why it is not 頓政 ... or 盛政 ..., or perhaps someone could ...?

[trien27]

The US government is also called 華府. I suppose no one could explain why it is not 頓政 ... or 盛政 ..., or perhaps someone could ...?

The US capital = Washington, D.C. [= District of Columbia].

華 = Chinese abbreviation of 華盛頓特區 [Washington, D.C.]

政 = could possibly be a Chinese abbreviation of 政治、政府、or 政客

府 = Chinese abbreviation of 政府 possibly from ancient times where it's an abbreviation of 府衙. 府衙 = 衙門 = government office or the imperial court within the government office in feudal China.

Usually when abbreviating a place name, the first one or two syllables of the original is / are used. Therefore 華盛頓特區政府 = 華府, and not 盛府 or 頓府. Unless, there's already an established place called 華府, then the other options of 盛府 or 頓府 might be used to avoid confusion.

港府, gǎngfǔ - abbreviation for 香港政府, the Hong Kong government. Anyone want to explain why it's not 香政?

港府 = 香港政府 because 港 is the abbreviated form of 香港.

Likewise, geographically, 台 is short for 台灣, 中 = short for 中國[大陸], & 澳 = short for 澳門.

政 = could possibly be a Chinese abbreviation of 政治、政府、or 政客

府 = Chinese abbreviation of 政府 possibly from ancient times where it's an abbreviation of 府衙. 府衙 = 衙門 = government office or the imperial court within the government office in feudal China.

Unless, there's already an established place called 港府, otherwise, it won't be changed.

香 as a stand alone character has the meaning of "aromatic, fragrant, perfumery, incense/joss sticks, etc...", so unless you mean anything related to "aromatic, fragrant, perfumery", then it might be confused and become "aromatic government/ aromatic politics", etc... which might be used for comic effect?

The question should be "Why isn't it called 維府?", where 維 = short for "Victoria" (Hong Kong's capital) in Chinese.

[roddy]

应验, yìngyàn, to come true - of a prediction, prophecy.

[roddy]

巫巫兹拉、呜呜声喇、呼呼塞拉、呜呜祖拉、非洲笛、呜呜号 Wūwūzīlā, wūwūshēnglǎ, hūhūsāilā, wūwūzǔlā, Fēizhōudí, wūwūháo - take your pick, ladies and gentlemen, of terms for the humble vuvuzela.

[roddy]

财阀, cáifá, tycoon, but in the context I found it (Russia) you'd probably go for oligarch.

[anonymoose]

校门 fly/flies

I'd love to know the etymology of that word.

[Glenn]

Is that slang or something? From what I could see it means just what the characters indicate it would mean (via a Google image search and a quick Google web search). Or is there perhaps a typo in there? I'm confused.

[Lu]

巫巫兹拉、呜呜声喇、呼呼塞拉、呜呜祖拉、非洲笛、呜呜号 Wūwūzīlā, wūwūshēnglǎ, hūhūsāilā, wūwūzǔlā, Fēizhōudí, wūwūháo - take your pick, ladies and gentlemen, of terms for the humble vuvuzela.

I actually came to this thread especially to see if this word was here :-) I think 呜呜声喇 (sound and meaning!) and 非洲笛 (localized translation!) are the best ones.

Random word:

生搬硬套 sheng1ban1 ying4tao4 to use something indiscriminately without actually knowing what it means, for example, using a method to solve a problem on any problem you encounter, whether it fits or not.

From my anki deck, and before that from a Chinese article.

[crazy-meiguoren]

If you get stuck behind a slow driver, maybe he's afraid of 时扩张 if he goes too fast. It could cause him to be late for his appointment.