yersi Posted February 21, 2009 at 11:12 AM Report Share Posted February 21, 2009 at 11:12 AM Going through 菊豆 with the subs2srs program, I came across the word 二赖子 èrlàizi - "shameless loafer", and immediately associated it with a word I'd learned before, 二愣子 èrlèngzi - "idiot". By searching Wenlin I found two other similar words 二憨子 and 二混子. As far as I can tell, 子 is used as a suffix here to make an adjective into a noun, but what function does 二 have in these words? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roddy Posted February 21, 2009 at 03:54 PM Report Share Posted February 21, 2009 at 03:54 PM There's also (I just found) 三青子, 三孙子, 四楞子. Not sure of the reasoning behind any of them though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roddy Posted February 21, 2009 at 04:27 PM Report Share Posted February 21, 2009 at 04:27 PM I just had a quick look through the ABC (words starting with 三，四, etc, then find '子') as I was curious as to whether or not there were more similar terms start with two than three, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HashiriKata Posted February 26, 2009 at 08:41 AM Report Share Posted February 26, 2009 at 08:41 AM I think 二 has acquired its derogatory sense out of being associated with 二等，二手，二把手，etc., and seems to mean something very close to "stupid/ muddleheaded" in the words cited above. This feeling seems to be confirmed by the word 二百五, which simply means a stupid person. What I'm interested to know is how 百五 is invloved in this. Native Chinese speakers may know something about the origin of this 百五 or 二百五 ?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roddy Posted February 26, 2009 at 08:55 AM Report Share Posted February 26, 2009 at 08:55 AM 二 can be used on it's own as a bit of an insult - as the link says,it's a bit stupider than stupid and bordering on deficient. There are explanations for 二百五 here, such as four criminals handing themselves in to get a 1000 . . . whatever it was, closed that tab now . . reward split four ways (hence 250) and getting executed (hence stuipd). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HashiriKata Posted February 26, 2009 at 09:47 AM Report Share Posted February 26, 2009 at 09:47 AM Thank you, Roddy, good finds! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mangix Posted February 27, 2009 at 06:37 AM Report Share Posted February 27, 2009 at 06:37 AM In some area of China, "二" equals "stupid". And "子" is pronoun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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