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TFW Chinese is trying to drive you crazy


Not Nicky

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I learnt 预防 ages ago, but skritter gave me 妨碍 recently. Took me a while to realise and get the difference clear in my head. Then I looked back and realised oh my god the meanings and writing of the two fang2 are so similar, why are they even different?! 

Are there any other examples like this that make you despair at your commitment to studying this crazy tongue? How do you 分清楚?

Screenshot_20170227-220450.png

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I would disagree that they are so similar. 防 to protect, defend, to guard against. 妨 hinder, harm.

These seem to me quite different.

As a word 预防  to prevent, to take precautions, to protect, to guard against. 妨碍 to hinder or obstruct.

IMHO these are quite different.

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Right. I think I left out the most important part, and now look a bit dumb. I wasn't confused about 预防 and 妨碍. I had kind of vaguely assumed they used the same "fang2". They both seem to have the "stopping something" idea so I just glossed over it, didn't think about the writing so didn't realise until it 预防 came up again.

Are there any other examples of characters that are really similar/identical phonetically and/or orthographically with sort of tricky or confusing differences in meaning?

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The left part of 防 is 阜 'mound'. The original meaning of 防 is 隄/堤 'dyke'. 《管子》曰:大者為之堤,小者為之防。

The left part of 妨 is 女 'female'. The original meaning of 妨 is 害 'harm'. Why female is harmful is anyone's guess. Maybe because girls distract boys from studying. :mrgreen:

They both mean stopping something but the question is in a good way or in a bad way.

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Yes, there are a ton like this, with differing levels of crossover in meaning, sound, and form.

佳/嘉

支/枝

消/销

秘/密

和/合

溶/熔

 

Not the best examples, just a few off the top of my head.

 

Thing is, in almost all of these cases (though I guess not with 妨 and 防), they turn out to have diverged from the same etymological root.

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You may also want to check the words "订金" and "定金". You may lose tonnes of money if you use the wrong word.

There are two many words in Chinese that can be used with a wrong character with the same pronunciation, native Chinese do it all the time.

 

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