澄清: dèngqīng or chéngqīng?

[Lu]

如题. According to my dictionaries, both are correct pronunciations. The meanings of chéng and dèng don't entirely overlap, but chéngqīng and dèngqīng appears to mean the same. Can anyone enlighten me?

 

I don't need it for anything in particular, was just mining a book for vocab when I came across this word. The book is 圈子圈套2, the sentence is 洪钧听出范宇宙又想歪了，这次他不得不澄清道：“老范，你误会了。”

[Jim]

I think it's generally chengqing for abstract uses and dengqing for more material/actual instances, see: https://baike.baidu.com/item/澄清 Not really sure though!

[Daniel ZHPY]

Since 澄 and 清 both mean "clear or transparent" and 澄清 is a verb, the basic meaning is the same no matter how it is pronounced, which is "to make it clear; to remove other substances". However, when it is used in different contexts, the pronunciation also changes. When it is chéng qīng, it means "to clarify the truth or to clear the air in order to prevent misunderstanding". When it is dèng qīng, it means "to purify or to remove unneeded substances." Alright as you may have noticed, the former is usually used for abstract concepts like an incidence, a misunderstanding or a situation. While the latter is usually used for things that physically exist, and this is not a frequently-encountered usage.

[Lu]

Thank you both, this is helpful! I understand it now.