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Random new word of the day


roddy

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围嘴 wéizuǐ bib (as for babies)

 

In somehow related news, today I learned that Slavic countries have their own version of the 侠客, namely the bogatyr. Seriously, look at that: they are sometimes based on real historical people but often mythical, they sometimes use magic but usually not, and they attach great value to chivalry. None of this helps me translate a loose 侠客 into Dutch, but it's still cool.

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  • 2 weeks later...
1 hour ago, xinoxanu said:

脚踏车 jiǎotàchē

 

A rather uncommon word for "bicycle" , never heard it in the Mainland but it seems to be used in Taiwan. Can someone confirm?

 

This term is used in Shanghainese (but obviously with Shanghainese pronunciation). Though I can't say I've particularly noticed, I wouldn't be surprised if the term is used by Shanghainese people when speaking Mandarin.

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China's a big place, and putonghua is not as standardised as some would like you to believe. When I was down in Guangxi everyone used 單車 for bicycle, 自行車 kind of comes of as a bit 出租車 there (as opposed to the more frequently used 打的/的士)

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I didn't see this come up yet, surprisingly.

 

病毒检测   bìng dú jiǎn cè — Virus Test.

 

In terms of COVID, it looks like this is being used specifically to refer to an RNA/PCR/swab test, which looks for remnants of the virus, while 抗体检测  kàng tǐ jiǎn cè is the antibody test (blood test).

 

Source: https://chinese.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/symptoms-testing/testing.html

 

Quote

 

COVID-19有两种检测:病毒检测抗体检测
 

病毒检测会告诉您当前是否感染了病毒。
抗体检测会告诉您是否曾经感染过病毒。

 

 

 

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蚂蚁   mǎ yǐ    ant

 

This does not sound too amazing, but then I realised the 蚂 character means 3 different animals depending on the tone:

蚂    mā    dragonfly
蚂    mǎ    ant
蚂    mà    grasshopper

 

 Beautiful and horrible at the same time. Who is going to remember this? ?

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3 hours ago, Jan Finster said:

蚂    mā    dragonfly
蚂    mǎ    ant
蚂    mà    grasshopper

 

Interesting. I knew 蚂蚁 and 蚂蚱, but never clocked that they were the same character. Never heard of 蚂螂 for dragonfly before though, only 蜻蜓.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if they have no etymological relationship, just converged on the same character from people needing a "ma" character for something insect-like.

 

3 hours ago, Jan Finster said:

Who is going to remember this?

 

download.png

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寒号鸟 hánhàoniǎo   a certain type of flying squirrel, found in parts of China (Trogopterus xanthipes). So not a 鸟 at all, despite the name.

 

Mostly famous because of a story about such a squirrel. The squirrel plays all day, even when its neighbour the magpie urges it to furnish a warm nest for the winter. Then winter comes and the nights are cold, so that the 寒号鸟 is shivering in its drafty burrow. Now build a nest already, says the magpie the next morning, but by then the sun is up, it's nice and warm out, so the squirrel isn't interested anymore. Until one night it gets so cold that the squirrel freezes in its burrow. So a bit like the cricket and the ant, but with cold instead of hunger.

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