Ian_Lee 6 Posted March 8, 2004 Report Share Posted March 8, 2004 Which one is the most easily mistaken Chinese character that you would easily put an extra stroke or write without the needed stroke? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
林彪 0 Posted March 8, 2004 Report Share Posted March 8, 2004 Definitely 未 (wei4) and 末 (mo4). Can you tell the difference? In wei4, the lower horizontal bar is larger. In mo4, the upper bar is longer. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
skylee 1,912 Posted March 8, 2004 Report Share Posted March 8, 2004 Well then it follows that 日 and 曰 should also qualify (the former is taller and the latter is flatter). And then of course 己, 已, 巳 and 戌, 戊, 戍 are all very confusing. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ian_Lee 6 Posted March 9, 2004 Author Report Share Posted March 9, 2004 戌, 戊, 戍 I am ashamad to admit that I am still not too sure on how to pronounce (even in Cantonese) the above words if they come out individually. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
skylee 1,912 Posted March 9, 2004 Report Share Posted March 9, 2004 戌, 戊, 戍 I am ashamad to admit that I am still not too sure on how to pronounce (even in Cantonese) the above words if they come out individually. In Cantonese, we say 橫戌(恤), 點戍(恕), 戊(務)中空. In Putonghua, it would be 橫戌(xu1), 點戍(shu4), 戊(wu4)中空. And two of these three confusing characters appear in the term 戊戌政變 (aka 戊戌/百日維新). Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Calvin_Sheng Posted March 9, 2004 Report Share Posted March 9, 2004 actually, as a chinese, i cannot pronounce and understand all of the characters below: 己, 已, 巳 and 戌, 戊, 戍 i know only 己 and 已, every time i met 巳 and 戌, 戊, 戍, just ignore and continue. ^__^ Quote Link to post Share on other sites
geek_frappa 3 Posted March 9, 2004 Report Share Posted March 9, 2004 覃 (qin2) <---- Surname 覃 (tan2) ... no difference between characters, but two different pronounciations. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
skylee 1,912 Posted March 9, 2004 Report Share Posted March 9, 2004 覃 (qin2) <---- Surname覃 (tan2) ... no difference between characters' date=' but two different pronounciations.[/quote'] Well if these are also taken into account then it would be very complicated. Take a most common word 樂. It is le4 when it means happy; yue4 when it means music (and both are surnames); and yao4 when it means enjoy (e.g. 敬業樂群; 仁者樂山, 智者樂水). In cantonese, the three pronunciations are lok9, ngok9, and ngau6 respectively. (I love my dear new dictionary ) How about 刀 and 力; 兔 and 免? Are they not confusing enough? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
geek_frappa 3 Posted March 9, 2004 Report Share Posted March 9, 2004 those are good ones. how about these, too? 幸 (xing4) 辛 (xin1) 3 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
xoyopai 0 Posted March 9, 2004 Report Share Posted March 9, 2004 人 (ren2) - people 入 (ru4) - enter Hope you have already known them. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
skylee 1,912 Posted March 9, 2004 Report Share Posted March 9, 2004 Yes, and these too - 淮 (huai2) vs 准 (zhun3) 治 (zhi4) vs 冶 (ye3) 千 (qian1) vs 干 (gan1) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Lu 3,252 Posted March 10, 2004 Report Share Posted March 10, 2004 'Heaven' (天 tian1) and 'dying young' (forgot the pronouniation so can't type it...). Quote Link to post Share on other sites
geek_frappa 3 Posted March 10, 2004 Report Share Posted March 10, 2004 'Heaven' (天 tian1) and 'dying young' (forgot the pronouniation so can't type it...). 天 (tian1) and 夭 (yao1) can be confused. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
skylee 1,912 Posted March 10, 2004 Report Share Posted March 10, 2004 Actually they look almost the same in the post above. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
xoyopai 0 Posted March 10, 2004 Report Share Posted March 10, 2004 刀 (dao1) - knife 刃 (ren4) - blade 刁 (diao1) sly ------------------------------------- 桶 (tong3) - bucket 俑 (yong3) 兵马俑 (bing1 ma3 yong3) - terracotta warriors and horses ------------------------------------- 干 (gan4) - do, work 于 (yu2) - for, of ------------------------------------- 甲 (jia3) - first 由 (you2) - because, due to 田 (tian2) - field ------------------------------------- 再 (zai4) - again 冉 (ran3) one of surnames 冉冉 (ran2 ran2) - gradually ------------------------------------- 孑 (jie2) 孓 (jue2) 孑孓 the babies of mosquito hehe, it's so confusing. :-P Quote Link to post Share on other sites
skylee 1,912 Posted March 10, 2004 Report Share Posted March 10, 2004 How about - 若 (ruo4) vs 苦 (ku3) 鼓 (gu3) vs 豉 (chi3) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
39degN 0 Posted March 10, 2004 Report Share Posted March 10, 2004 maybe 石(shi2) and 右(you4)? 力(li4) 刀(dao1) 大 and 太? actually they are the same thing in ancient chinese Quote Link to post Share on other sites
39degN 0 Posted March 10, 2004 Report Share Posted March 10, 2004 oops, 故(gu4) and 敌(di2) 竞(jing4) and 竟(jing4) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
林彪 0 Posted March 11, 2004 Report Share Posted March 11, 2004 Also 幸 (xing4) and 幸 (nie4). These are listed in the Zhongwen Zipu as different characters, but apparently, there's no graphical difference between them. I think they're two different characters that over the years have evolved to look exactly the same, despite the fact that they have different etymologies. There's also 茶 (cha2) and 苶 (nie2), 士 (shi4) and 土 (tu3), 鳥 (niao3) and 烏 (wu1). There are a bazillion of them. Which is one of the reasons why Chinese is such a hard language to learn to read and write. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
skylee 1,912 Posted March 11, 2004 Report Share Posted March 11, 2004 Also 幸 (xing4) and 幸[/size'] (nie4). I have reservation about the latter pronunciation. What is the source please? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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