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Why is there an 'ear' component in the character for smell? 闻 聞
Why is there an 'ear' radical in the character for smell? 闻 聞
I find this pretty confusing. Perhaps there is a fun story behind it?
pixelearth
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Etymology of 三寸不烂之舌
三寸不烂之舌 is used to describe great eloquence, similar to the English phrase "silver tongue". How exactly did this phrase come about? What does "三寸" mean? What's the meaning of "烂" in this phrase?
Some examples of its historical use…
congusbongus
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What is the meaning of 后 in ~分钟后?
What is the meaning of 后?
For example,
我二十分钟后应该就到了。
I believe 后 means behind? I still don't get how 后 should be placed in the sentence. I thought it made more sense when it was,
我二十分钟应该就到。
How does 后 make the difference?
Kevin
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So when should I use 旅舍，旅社，宾馆，酒店, or 旅馆?
I've heard or seen all of them in real life situations, some of them seem to be exclusively for hostels, others only for larger hotels, but some verification would be nice.
Jimmy C
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What's the origin of the proverbial phrase, "Sky falls/does not fall big pancakes"?
I know a Chinese proverbial phrase. Translated literally into English, it says something along the lines of "Sky falls big pancakes". When used negatively in the phrase, "The sky does not fall big pancakes," it is generally used to warn against…
Double U
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What is the origin of the proverbial phrase, "Drink the Northwestern winds"?
I know of a Chinese proverb that warns against something along the lines of idleness. Translated literally into English, it would be something along the lines of "Drink the Northwestern winds."
What is the origin of the proverbial phrase? And what…
Double U
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Etymology of glyph 袭 = dragon + clothes?
I am new here, recently discovered this site to learn more about glyph origins of certain characters.
I often see this character 袭 when related to terrorist attacks in the news. 袭 means raid or attack as far as I know.
At first I thought it was…
Fishuman
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Pronunciation of "轧" in 富顺(县)?
《富顺方言》has an entry that reads:
【轧】
读音：ōā（连读）
释义：碾压，轧扎。
举例：1、小心车子轧斗人！
2、有一道菜叫“轧海椒”，下饭安逸得板。
The thing that is confusing me is the:
读音：ōā（连读）
I've checked in the actual print edition of the book and actually it seems that the Kindle…
Mou某
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Meaning of the elements of 爵 (baron)
The 4 elements of this character are well known (claw/plectrum; net; north-east; short measurement), but I cannot see any connection between them that might result in the concept of 'baron'. Can anyone shed some light on this mystery?
murlin
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Difference between 而, 但 and 和
和 means 'and', and so does 而. What is the difference between the two. I also know that 而 means 'but', and the second question is what is the difference between 而 and 但. Give me an example sentence, please.
Christian Irwan Hadi Wicaksana
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What does 乃 mean here?
On a particular forum is a banner reading:
此乃舊貼唯讀區
which I imagine is a highfalutin way of saying that this thread is read-only.
Now, 乃 has many senses in my dictionary. What is the sense of 乃 being used here? My best guess would be "only", in the…
jogloran
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How to distinguish PICTURE OF ME and PICTURE OF MINE in Chinese?
This is a PICTURE OF ME.
This is a PICTURE OF MINE.
Both can be translated to
这是我的图片
Administrator
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Logic of the word 上午 (shànɡwǔ, morning)
上午 apparently means "morning". But I don't understand the logic of this word for two reasons:
1) Isn't the meaning of 午 "noon"?
2) With the words 早上 (early morning) and 晚上 (evening) then 上 is the second character, while in 上午 it is the second…
GambitSquared
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How to say "make money"?
I'm trying to say "the Song Dynasty used this invention to make paper money". So far I've got "宋朝用了这个发明做纸钱“。 The "make money" part is messing with me- I know "做钱“ can mean to print counterfeit money, and I'm not trying to express that. I also know…
米凯乐
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Why is "xiang4" in 摄像 and 照相 different from each other?
Why is "xiang4" in 摄像 and 照相 different from each other?
Other similar words are:
相片、相框、录像、影像、相机、摄像机
The xiang in each word seems have same meaning but with different form.
Is that because 像 refers to the animated one and 相 refers to still images？
imkzh
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