rtf Posted October 14, 2015 at 08:22 AM Report Share Posted October 14, 2015 at 08:22 AM Hello! Does anyone know if there`re any online dictionaries out there explaining (preferably in English) the meanings of composite words/phrases in Chinese like 电话 = ‘electric + conversation’ = 'telephone', 预报 = ‘in advance + report’ = 'forecast'， 道歉 = '?' = 'to apologize'? Thank you. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tysond Posted October 14, 2015 at 10:09 AM Report Share Posted October 14, 2015 at 10:09 AM Most electronic dictionaries (e.g. Pleco, or MDBG) allow you to break down words into component characters and see their individual meanings, which may help you figure out meanings. 道歉 dào qiàn to apologize HSK4 道 dào direction; way; road; path; CL:條|条[tiao2],股[gu3]; principle; truth; morality; reason; skill; method; Dao (of Daoism); to say; to speak; to talk; classifier for long thin things (rivers, cracks etc), barriers (walls, doors etc), questions (in an exam etc), commands, courses in a meal, steps in a process; province (of Korea or Japan) HSK3 歉 qiàn to apologize; to regret; deficient HSK4 Is that what you are after? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XiaoXi Posted October 14, 2015 at 10:10 AM Report Share Posted October 14, 2015 at 10:10 AM I think you just mean a dictionary of Chinese words....try Pleco. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shelley Posted October 14, 2015 at 10:33 AM Report Share Posted October 14, 2015 at 10:33 AM I think I am repeating myself but yes try Pleco, its not online but it works on a smart phone or tablet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luxi Posted October 14, 2015 at 11:35 AM Report Share Posted October 14, 2015 at 11:35 AM There are many online Chinese-English dictionaries that will do that. Two of the longest running ones are: The MDBG dictionary gives you the word and each of the components. Offers several ways of searching. http://www.mdbg.net/chindict/chindict.php?page=worddict&wdrst=0&wdqtm=0&wdqcham=1&wdqt=%E9%81%93%E6%AD%89 There's also the YellowBridge dictionary. Advertising can be annoying in the free version but still is a good dictionary with several additional tools. http://www.yellowbridge.com/chinese/dictionary.php Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xiaokaka Posted October 14, 2015 at 12:57 PM Report Share Posted October 14, 2015 at 12:57 PM I think what she is after is not a dictionary that shows all the possible meanings of the the characters in the words, but rather only the relevant ones. The only one I can think of that does this explicitly is the Tuttle dictionary (available in as paid add-on in Pleco and as a printed book). However it is rather limited with only a few thousand entries (and not all has character breakdowns). For example for 道歉： [v+obj: 道 say + 歉 apology] NOUN apologize, say sorry 你应该向他们道歉。 Nǐ yīnggāi xiàng tāmen dàoqiàn. You should apologize to them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rtf Posted October 14, 2015 at 01:01 PM Author Report Share Posted October 14, 2015 at 01:01 PM Thanks,everyone. @xiaokaka: Exactly! That`s what I`m looking for! And I`ll try the Tuttle,thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shelley Posted October 14, 2015 at 01:03 PM Report Share Posted October 14, 2015 at 01:03 PM only the relevant ones. How does it distinguish between relevant and irrelevant ones. I assume you mean relevant to the person looking up the word. A dictionary can only show the definitions for all possibilities and then it is up to you to choose the relevant one. If I have got this wrong, please explain to me where I have misunderstood. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xiaokaka Posted October 14, 2015 at 01:19 PM Report Share Posted October 14, 2015 at 01:19 PM Only the relevant character definitions for the word in question, e.g., when you look up the definition for 道歉 it has the line '[v+obj: 道 say + 歉 apology]' instead of you having to go through all the definitions for each character by yourself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shelley Posted October 14, 2015 at 02:59 PM Report Share Posted October 14, 2015 at 02:59 PM Oh I see when you are talking about multi character words, the 2 characters together usually only have one meaning (which is half the point of multi character words) so you don't need to search through loads of stuff. Ok I get it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shelley Posted October 14, 2015 at 03:05 PM Report Share Posted October 14, 2015 at 03:05 PM So taking all that in to account I still have to say try Pleco. If you put in 2 or 3 characters, if they are usual combination, it shows this at the top of the list. (just tried it with yubao.预报) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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