different characters for "seduction" and "temptation"?

[elchfan]

Hello everyone,

a friend of mine asked me about the chinese characters for "seduction" and "temptation".

I found her 诱 惑 but I did not find anything about a difference between seduction and temptation in Chinese. Is there a difference?

Like in the biblical context, seduction is symbolized by the snake, and temptation by the apple. Is it both 诱 惑 ?

Thank you and have a nice day,

elchfan

[dumdumdum]

it's usually regarded a negative word so be careful using it.

others include

引诱(verb, tempt/seduce),

勾引(verb, primarily seduce, bad to use on ladies)

魅惑/媚惑(verb, seduce, also bad on ladies)

诱人(adj, tempting, quite neutral)

simple 'attract attention' would be:

吸引/吸引人（to attract/attract one's attention）

引人注目(literally 'catch one's eyeballs')

[Kenny同志]

Again, the context is needed. In different contexts, the two words can be translated in different ways.

[David W Jackson]

The OP's friend intimates a biblical context:

'Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am being tempted by God"; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone.' - James 1:13

"人 被 试 探 ， 不 可 说 ： 「 我 是 被 神 试 探 」 ； 因 为 神 不 能 被 恶 试 探 ， 他 也 不 试 探 人 。"

'And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.'- Matthew 6:13

'不要让我们陷入试探，救我们脱离那恶者。’（有些后期抄本在此有“因为国度、权柄、荣耀，全是你的，直到永远。阿们”一句）'

So in both Old and New Testaments, the Chinese convention is to render 'temptation' by 试探, 'probe, sound out, test'.

保障人权的条例“如果人引诱还没有许配人的处女，与她同寝，他必须交出聘礼，娶她为妻。- Exodus 22:16

"If a man seduces a virgin who is not engaged, and lies with her, he must pay a dowry for her to be his wife.

Of course, in spoken language, seduce would be commonly rendered 'gou1yin3' and temptation: 'you4huo4'.

Regarding the putative apple:

'Despite the large number of cartoons and the almost universally accepted tradition, the Bible does not say that Eve ate an apple. Why then is it so popular to believe that she did? Genesis most definitely records that she did eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. So why do people think of an apple? One reason is that the Latin word for evil is malum and the Latin word for apple is also malum. In the fourth century AD, the word malum appeared in the Latin Vulgate translation of Genesis in the phrase ‘the tree of knowledge of good and evil’. From that time on people began to associate the apple with the fruit which Eve ate. But Eve did not eat the fruit of the apple tree—she ate the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.' - Answersingenesis.org

[elchfan]

Thanks a lot for all your answers!

Yes, she was talking about the biblical context. Good to know that the Chinese bible changes temptation to probe out/test. (I also did not know the facts about the apple, this is interesting).

Until now, I came across 拐 骗 as a negative word to avoid. I understood 诱 惑 as a quite commonly used word - can there be regional differences since you wrote it is a bad word? Or do you mean bad in the sense of "usually in Chinese you do not talk so much about things like that so the words are regarded as bad?

Thank you!

elchfan