Meaning of 东西

[aelfwyne]

In Rosetta Stone (yes, deride away), early on I came across this word:

"东西".. Since RS gives no definitions, I went with my gut on the meaning, and apparently was totally wrong according to any dictionary I've checked.

The only sentence they give with this word is:

这只狗在吃东西。

It shows a picture of a dog eating dog food. Since at this point we've been given several items of food, I assumed it meant "dog food"...

However, the dictionary disagrees (rightfully I'm sure)...

It looks like in that context, it simply means "something", right?

The most basic translation of 东西 ([dōngxī]) is "east and west"...

Other definitions include:

1. thing; stuff

2. (referring to an animal) thing; creature

3. noun [Offensive] (refering to a person) thing, used as an insult

So... was this RS's cute way of avoiding teaching the word for dog food by simply saying the dog is eating... something?

And, more importantly, is this a word one would use regularly if you're referring to "stuff"?

[HashiriKata]

It's a general word for "thing(s)", so it should mean "stuff" as well.

I think Rosetta Stone is correct to use "吃东西" instead of something more specific (= complicated) at a very early stage of learning (But I think they should also give you the meaning of the words they use).

As a side note, "吃的东西" is often used to mean "food".

[chrix]

Also 东西 dōngxī "east and west" is pronounced differently from 东西 dōngxi "thing" (the latter having a neutral tone)

[travelgirl]

couldn't she use the word 食物 as well?

[Hofmann]

Yes, but that's more advanced vocabulary. Also, one rarely says that something is eating "food." That's like saying I'm speaking "words."

[travelgirl]

oh i see.so it's better saying 东西。

[chrix]

except for Chinese, where you'll get constructions such as 吃飯 (SCNR).

[renzhe]

Besides, 吃 is often used with 东西. E.g. 吃点儿东西 = eat something.

[Flover]

东西 is widely used in chinese, so whatever you could eat and see, if you did not sure about what it is, so you could have a question, describe it as chinese is "这/那是什么东西", obviously used in english is "what is this/that", on the other hand the word "东西" means that you could not confirm something. but sometimes it also could express the bad means, for example, 你是个坏东西(you are the bad guy.)......it's very funny with the explanation of the word.

[Daan]

And you can also tell those 壞東西 that they 不是東西, to make matters yet more confusing. But never mind that for the time being

[aelfwyne]

Well this has been enlightening ;)... so basically this is almost a catchall phrase. As far as RS, they had already covered 吃饭 by that point as well as some basic foods, so I guess they just figured it would be a good place to not teach you something you probably don't need to know. However, this is an example of why you really need to have a dictionary with you when plumbing the depths of RS. It's great but hardly good by itself.

Thanks!

[889]

I'll add that Chinese feels more comfortable with an object in this kind of sentence than English. Thus in English we can have the exchange, "What's the dog doing?" "The dog's eating." But a similar Chinese sentence feels naked with 吃 chi alone, so 东西 dongxi gets tacked on to make the sentence sound complete. Similarly with 吃饭 chifan, which usually means just 吃 chi.

(I was going to note that saying 这只狗在吃饭 would sound absurd, but a quick Google search shows it's not absurd at all.)

[chrix]

Haha 889, I had the exact same experience, good thing I try to google before I post here

[travelgirl]

why would it sound absurb?it means this dog is eating right now.right?

[renzhe]

Because 饭 brings association of cooked meals and rice bowls, and you don't expect a dog to eat in a restaurant using chopsticks. To me, 吃饭 sounds like "eating a meal".

It also sounded strange to me, but apparently, it's correct.

Edited February 12, 2010 at 01:17 PM by renzhe

[travelgirl]

.Oh I see.if it was the only thing in chinese language that seems strange to me i would be very hapy:lol:

[jbradfor]

@renzhe, maybe the confusion is because I believe in China it is pretty common to feed pet dogs rice and left-overs. I think that pet food is much less common there. [And if dogs can play poker, why can't they use chopsticks?]

[brilight]

If you say 这只狗在吃饭，

First possibility is .

1. The food provide to the dog can also be eaten by humans. It is not only for dog like dog food.

Second possibility is

2. You love the dog and consider it as a human. like word "he", "she" can also refer to a dog

Edited February 19, 2010 at 03:45 AM by brilight

[yzy19880801]

Everyone seems like dogs...

if you say, 这只狗在吃饭，for a native chinese speaker, it indicates one of the following,

1. the speaker is not a native speaker at all, at least, very weired sentence,

2 the speaker wanna emphasize that the dog is actually eating RICE, or left-overs....

How to say it? 这只狗在吃东西...

吃东西 and 吃饭 are interchangable for ppl, but not animals..

[889]

I didn't think they were interchangeable myself till I did a Google check. Just search, for example, "狗不吃饭" gou bu chifan (a common complaint), and you'll get hundreds of examples, to wit:

我家的狗狗最近好奇怪,都不怎么不吃饭.

3个月大的小狗不吃饭.

狗狗不吃飯的原因也有心理層面的.