best way to say "frog"

[therob]

Hello,

I looked on the internet and found tons of translations for the word "frog." I then checked google translate and it used "青蛙" (qīng wā). 

So, my question is, is this the best translation?

If it matters how I'm using the word, let's say that I wanted to name something "frog beach." 

I guess this is a yes or no question, but any other insight would be appreciated and I thank you all in advance.

[imron]

"青蛙" (qīng wā) does mean frog and it's very common usage.

 

If however I wanted to name something "frog beach" I probably wouldn't do so just by putting the words "frog" and "beach" next to each other because there's probably a better and more concise way to express "frog beach".

 

So, if you wanted to name something "frog beach" then I would ask how to say "frog beach".  I would also provide some more context to help the person translating give you with the best possible translation to suit your intended usage.

[JustinJJ]

Just be careful. I was in a restaurant once and discovered after ordering that 田鸡 also means frog... don't make the mistake of thinking it's just some variety of chicken like free range, etc.

[skylee]

Perhaps you could name it 蛙蛙（海/沙）灘?

Other than 田雞， there are also terms like 蝦蟆 and 蟾蜍. When people say 田雞 I think about food. When I hear 蝦蟆 / 蟾蜍 I think about toads.

I suggest you stick to 青蛙 / 蛙 / 蛙蛙.

[Kenny同志]

If you want it to be neutral, name it 蛙灘; if you want it to be informal and kind of wacky, name it 蝦蟆灘, also written as 蛤蟆灘.

 

 

Edit:  To be safe, you'd better use 蛙灘 or 蛤蟆灘: though both 蝦蟆 and 蛤蟆 are correct written forms my 兩岸現代漢語常用詞典 includes only 蛤蟆, suggesting that  蝦蟆 may be becoming outdated in traditional Chinese.

[Kenny同志]

When I hear 蝦蟆 / 蟾蜍 I think about toads.

 

In our local dialect, we always use 蝦蟆 and (癩) 蝦蟆 to refer to frogs and toads, respectively. 青蛙 is used only when people teach their children putonghua.

[skylee]

Yes it should be 蛤蟆. I thought 蝦蟆 looked odd but couldn't figure out why. Haha.

蛤蟆 reminds me of 西毒歐陽鋒. Hehe.

PS I think the meaning of the terms may vary in different regions. 青蛙 is probably the most generic term.

[Kenny同志]

 I think the meaning of the terms may vary in different regions. 青蛙 is probably the most generic term. 

 

I agree.

 

For what it's worth, my 兩岸現代漢語常用詞典 says  "俗將青蛙和蟾蜍統稱為蛤蟆", which is exactly the way we use the term in our dialect.

[MPhillips]

Just discovered that if you want a term in English that covers both toads & frogs it's "Anura". Order Anura = 無尾目

[therob]

thanks, guys

[abcdefg]

I was recently in Kuala Lumpur and saw several places on Jalan Alor selling 田鸡粥。 (Frog porridge.)

 

 

Had some late one night. Pretty good stuff. They served it with 油条。

[skylee]

The links in Kenny's #5 are dead. Use these instead -

蝦蟆 - https://www.moedict.tw/%E8%9D%A6%E8%9F%86

蛤蟆 - https://www.moedict.tw/~%E8%9B%A4%E8%9F%86

[Demonic_Duck]

I always thought 蛤蟆 was toad, and 青蛙 was frog. Guess it's more nuanced than that.

[abcdefg]

I've been to two restaurants in Kunming whose specialty is frog. The menus of both places refer to the ones they serve as 牛蛙。

[Demonic_Duck]

I'm pretty sure that's only used for bullfrogs, which I think refers to 美国牛蛙 American bullfrogs. Other frogs would be 青蛙 (or I guess 田鸡 when they're food)?

[MPhillips]

蝌蚪 (ke1dou3) -- tadpole/s -- just felt like tossing in another amphibian word.