Tomsima Posted May 1, 2019 at 06:02 PM Author Report Share Posted May 1, 2019 at 06:02 PM 蠱 Spoiler gǔ, a legendary venomous insect. It came up in the word 蠱惑 in a translation I was working on yesterday. After speaking to a friend about what 蠱 exactly was, it all came flooding back, I actually learnt and then obviously forgot this character while watching 天龍八部 (if youve seen it, I'm sure you'll know the poisonous insect im talking about; if you havent, go watch 胡軍版本 its great fun). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomsima Posted May 9, 2019 at 12:27 PM Author Report Share Posted May 9, 2019 at 12:27 PM 麾 Spoiler huī, Original meaning: flag or banner. Came up in a game in the word 麾下, those under one's command. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomsima Posted May 31, 2019 at 03:50 PM Author Report Share Posted May 31, 2019 at 03:50 PM 瘗 Spoiler yì, bury. It came up in the name of an old work of calligraphy, 瘗鹤铭 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomsima Posted June 3, 2019 at 07:14 PM Author Report Share Posted June 3, 2019 at 07:14 PM 櫫 Spoiler zhū, small wooden post for tying up animals. This appeared in a doctoral dissertation from a Taiwan university in the word 楬櫫. The word was new for me, and appears not to be frequently used on the mainland. Nonetheless, I thought the character was pretty interesting, as the top clearly serves as the phonetic, but also takes part in the overall semantic idea of 豬+木. Check out here for more information if you're interested. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shelley Posted June 3, 2019 at 11:22 PM Report Share Posted June 3, 2019 at 11:22 PM Well interestingly enough Zhongwen popup dictionary translates this as Zelkova acuminta a type of plant = http://www.theplantlist.org/tpl/record/tro-50127524 and doesn't mention the wooden tether. After further investigation is seems Pleco lists it as wooden picket for tethering animals but only for literary use, and the plant in everyday use. 楬櫫 together is to disclose or to announce. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomsima Posted June 4, 2019 at 12:16 AM Author Report Share Posted June 4, 2019 at 12:16 AM interesting to see it listed as the plant type rather than wooden post/tether... Here is the usage I saw 楬櫫 come up in: "孔恩所楬櫫科學研究者工作環境的轉換" (the transformation of the scientific researcher's environment as [indicated/identified] by Kuhn) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomsima Posted June 10, 2019 at 01:00 PM Author Report Share Posted June 10, 2019 at 01:00 PM 愨 Spoiler què, it appears to mean 'honest', but this is an important character in the place name 夏愨道 or 'Harcourt Rd' in HK. It came up in this article on recent protests in HK, and I confess I really should know this character. I've probably seen it a lot in the past and never bothered to actively learn it after a quick dictionary check. It appears in the article with the simplified 悫, and can also be written using an even fuller version of the traditional above, 慤. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomsima Posted June 18, 2019 at 12:08 AM Author Report Share Posted June 18, 2019 at 12:08 AM 靨 Spoiler yè, also known as 面靨, this is the character for the 酒窩, or dimple, makeup dots that can be found on paintings and sculptures of Tang dynasty women. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomsima Posted June 24, 2019 at 12:26 AM Author Report Share Posted June 24, 2019 at 12:26 AM 盥 Spoiler guàn - entry from ABC dictionary: Quote wash (hands/face) From two hands ( and ), 水 (shuǐ) ‘water’ and 皿 (mǐn) ‘bowl’. “水 water in a 皿 bowl and two hands (fingers)” —Karlgren. Presumably 盥 guàn is cognate to 灌 guàn ‘pour’. Bumped into this character watching 武林外傳 - 屁先生 'Simpson' in episode 68 uses the word '盥洗' to describe going to wash his hands after eating a chicken leg. Seems like this word is actually pretty common in formal language, so must just be another one of those lesser-seen characters that my brain has switched off and decided not to learn before. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Posted June 24, 2019 at 02:59 AM Report Share Posted June 24, 2019 at 02:59 AM 2 hours ago, Tomsima said: Seems like this word is actually pretty common in formal language, so must just be another one of those lesser-seen characters that my brain has switched off and decided not to learn before. Yes, sure I've seen it in older washroom signs (our old student dorms years back for one), perhaps as a bit of pseudo-sophistication, which is why I've definitely looked it up before. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomsima Posted July 7, 2019 at 04:30 PM Author Report Share Posted July 7, 2019 at 04:30 PM Todays new character is perhaps too vulgar to give an explanation for, but it was popping up all the time on the livestreams from Hong Kong today. Suffice it to say, this character is specific to Cantonese. 閪 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomsima Posted September 26, 2019 at 06:53 PM Author Report Share Posted September 26, 2019 at 06:53 PM 鴇 Spoiler bao3, appears in 老鴇, 'madam of the brothel, brothel keeper', ie. the head lady in charge of all the girls at a brothel. It got shouted at 老闆 by one of the employee guys on the till at my local tiny Chinese supermarket, to much chuckling from those in the queue (except for me of course, who was frantically trying to feign understanding while cycling through every third tone 'bao' I could think of) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomsima Posted October 6, 2019 at 11:40 PM Author Report Share Posted October 6, 2019 at 11:40 PM 曱甴 Spoiler gaat6 jaat6 (SL) means cockroach in Cantonese, seems to be the equivalent of 蟑螂, interesting couple of characters that i noticed appearing in comments on videos about the riots in hk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shelley Posted October 6, 2019 at 11:50 PM Report Share Posted October 6, 2019 at 11:50 PM That is a really nice pair of characters. Appealing like 凹凸 , are there any more pairs like this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomsima Posted October 7, 2019 at 12:08 AM Author Report Share Posted October 7, 2019 at 12:08 AM i can think of 孑孓 and 乒乓 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Posted October 7, 2019 at 03:25 AM Report Share Posted October 7, 2019 at 03:25 AM 忐忑 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomsima Posted November 5, 2019 at 09:20 PM Author Report Share Posted November 5, 2019 at 09:20 PM 箸 Spoiler zhu4, the original character for 筷子, from a chat with a friend about interesting facts that they learned from listening to 马未都 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomsima Posted November 16, 2019 at 11:16 PM Author Report Share Posted November 16, 2019 at 11:16 PM 鞬 Spoiler jian1, a quiver holster for use on horseback, appeared in the word 弓鞬 (as to be expected I suppose) I love these old military equipment characters, they always look so complex, yet break down in such a simple way, its almost always just 革 + phonetic component. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomsima Posted November 21, 2019 at 06:10 PM Author Report Share Posted November 21, 2019 at 06:10 PM 襠 Spoiler dang1, appears in the word 襠部, meaning 'the crotch area'. Word was used in a stand-up style speech by a comedian as a euphemism. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roddy Posted November 22, 2019 at 09:05 AM Report Share Posted November 22, 2019 at 09:05 AM See also 开裆裤。 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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