4、閑話文字和語言

閑話

to casually discourse upon (often used in the titles of pieces of writing that discuss a topic in a non-academic way)

表情達意

to express oneself

縱使

despite the fact that

後來居上

something appears later that is better than what there was originally

各有千秋

each has it’s merit

訴之於

to appeal to (This is a somewhat unusual usage. Normally means to appeal to the law, an authority, reason, etc.)

對方

one’s interlocutor, the “other person” in some sort of dialogue, exchange, or other form of intercourse

聽覺

hearing (one of the 5 senses)

視覺

sight (one of the 5 senses)

補助

to supplement, to subsidize, to help financially (usually has to do with money)

相似

similar (to one another)

與其A不如B

Rather than A, it would be better to B (A and B are clauses)

延長

extension; (to extend)

變形

metamorphosis; (to undergo metamorphosis, to transform)

來得

[no english equivalent] (comes right before the adjective in comparison e.g. A 不如 B 來得 Vs)

確切

accurate

隨著

following (forms a pair with 而)

變遷

gradually change on a grand scale (as in social change)

自然而然

natural, it follows naturally that

如同

similar to

細胞

cell (biology)

人工

human effort

人工的

man-made, artificial

左右

to manipulate, to control

微乎其微

miniscule, tiny

愛斯基摩

Eskimo

字眼(兒)

word, (short) expression

阿拉伯

Arab

駱駝

camel

叔父

uncle (father’s younger brother)

舅父

uncle (mother’s elder or younger brother)

姑父

uncle (father’s sister’s husband)

姨父

uncle (mother’s sister’s husband)

應A而B

in response to A, B (B is a predicate)

上

no fewer than (placed before a value it emphasizes that that value is quite large)

玉

jade

統制

to unify and control

傻

silly

修訂

to revise (a book, a law, some other kind of text published in editions or versions)

商朝

the Shang Dynasty

刻

to carve

龜甲

turtle shell

獸骨

animal bone

十之七八

the better part (lit. 70% or 80%)

象形

pictographic

字體

form of a character // script, font, typeface, handwriting

結構

structure

固定

fixed

倒

upside down, backwards, in mirror reverse

橫

horizontal

排列

arrangement; (to line up, to arrange)

行

to go (文言文用法)

形成

to form

階段

stage (of a process)

日積月累

gradual and incermental accumulation

進化

evolution, (to evolve)

境地

state

一時

a short period of time // (used as an adverb it means “for a time” or “at the moment”)

倉頡

legendary advisor to the Yellow Empesos credited with inventing Chinese characters

伏羲氏

legendary Chinese ruler credited with the introduction of farming, fishing, and animal husbandry

八卦

the eight trigrams, consisting of an arrangement of single and divided lines in eight groups of three lines each as specified in the Book of Changes

書契

writing // written contract

傳說

legend

罷了

merely

筆畫

stroke (a brushstroke when writing a character)

周代

the Zhou Dynasty

逐漸

gradually

稱為

to be called (把 X 稱為 Y = to call X Y；稱 X 為 Y = to call X Y)

大篆

“greater seal” characters

天下

the relm (refers to the “whole” world, or more precisely the Middle Kingdom according to the ancient Sinocentric world view)

小篆

“lesser seal” characters

謹嚴

careful and precise

勻稱

well-proportioned, stmmetrical, even

書寫

writing

形體

form, (as opposed to 形式, the connotation of 形體 is less about rules and more aesthetic)

製作

to make, to design and produce

隸書

clerical script, (type of writing common during the Han Dynasty)

通行

to be commonly used

草書

cursive script, grass script

書法

calligraphy

後漢

Later Han Dynasty (25-220 AD)

墨

inkstick (made of soot and glue, and ground with water to make ink paper)

紙張

paper

便利

convenience; (convenient, handy, useful)

楷書

regular script, standard script

奠定

to establish

正體

standard form (of a character)

沿用

to continue to use

行書

semi-cursive script

氣味

air of

濃厚

strong (of a color, atmosphere); thick (of smoke, clouds)

通用

to be commonly used

六書

the Six Writings (the six patterns of Chinese character construction)

指事

simple ideograms, e.g. 上、一

會意

"joined meaning" construction, associative compound. Meaning derives from the logical combination of the character's parts. eg. 人言 = 信、田力 = 男）

形聲

phono-semantic compound. One part suggests the meaning and the other suggests pronunciation, e.g. 洋、河

轉注

derivative cognates (includes characters with common ancient forms that have diverged to have different forms and meanings now. E.g. 考、老. [Don't worry, this only makes sense to experts.])

假借

phonetic loan characters (a character used to write one words is borrowed to write another [nearly] homophonous word. E.g. 麥 -> 來)

構成

to construct; to constitule, to compose

法則

rule