By continuing you agree to eChinacities's Privacy Policy .
Sign up with Google Sign up with FacebookQ: List of Chinese words that sound like their english/foreign equivalent?
For example "kafei", "kele" for "coffee" and "cola".
Sorry for such an amateur question--I only recently moved here and started studying Chinese. Looking for any help I can find in memorizing new vocabulary more easily.
11 years 24 weeks ago in Teaching & Learning - China
luoji - 逻辑 - logic
It's a loan word because it doesn't exist here.
I like how De is "Of" in both French and Chinese.
Mr_spoon:
That's actually a coincidence, but it also struck me. We use it in almost exactly the same way (but with a different grammatical structure).
The ones I like most are Hello; bye, bye; OK and a few others that sound to me very close to English words.
"ti shi" - T-Shirt
"dian shi xiu" - Tv show
I know there's more, but can't think of anything right now.
Flemingo:
xiu is pronounced more or less like show, though dianshi doesnt exactly sound like tv
Mr_spoon:
Yeah I was referring only to the "xiu" part, which is apparently directly taken from the English word "Show"
Here you go:
Tai feng=Typhoon
Gongfu= kongfu
Mai ke feng=Mircrophone
Ku=Cool
Sha fa= Sofa
Wei shi ji=Whisky
Bai lan di=Brandy
Ba shi=bus
Ke long=Clone
Dou fu=Tofu
Ao da li ya=Australia
Gao er fu=Golf
Pingpong=Ping pong
Tan ke=tank
Ji pu=Jeep
Jue shi= Jazz
Ji ta=Guitar
That's all I can remember right now. Hope it helps.
Actually, most of these English words originated from Chinese characters, so they sound similar.
More examples are:
Kung fu (1966年来自“功夫”)
Yin yang (1671年来自“阴阳”)
Kowtow (1804年来自“叩头”)
Tofu (1880年来自“豆腐”)
Lychee或litche (1588年来自“荔枝”)
Gung ho或gung-ho(热心) (1939年来自“工合”)
Mahjong或Mah-jong (1920年来自“麻将”)
Feng shui (1797年来自“风水”)
Tai chi (1736年来自“太极”)
Yamen (1747年来自“衙门”)
Kaolin (1727年来自“高岭”)
Kylin (1857年来自“麒麟”)
Longan (1732年来自“龙眼”)
Pe-tsai (1795年来自“白菜”)
Petuntse (1727年来自“白墩子”
Sampan (1620年来自“舢板”)
Suan-pan (1736年来自“算盘”)
Tao (1736年来自“道”)
Taipan(大商行的总经理) (1834年来自“大班”)
Toumingdu(透明度) (来自1980年代中英谈判期间用语“透明度”)
Tuchun (1917年来自“督军”)
Tung(油桐属) (1788年来自“桐”)
Ho-ho bird (1901年来自“凤凰”)
Wampee(一种果) (1830年来自“黄皮”)
Whangee(一种竹) (1790年来自“黄藜”)
来自粤语
Typhoon (1771年来自“台风”)
Dim sum (1948年来自“点心”)
Yum cha (大概15年前来自“饮茶”[2004])
Wok (1952年来自“镬(炒锅)”)
Bok choy (1938年来自“白菜”,比Pe-tsai常用)
Chop-suey (1888年来自“杂碎”)
Won ton (1948年来自“云吞”)
Chow mein (1903年来自“炒面”)
Paktong(一种钱币) (1775年来自“白铜”)
Sycee(一种钱币) (1711年来自“丝”)
Souchong(一种茶) (1760年来自“小种”)
kung fu:中国功夫
mahjong:麻将
oolong:乌龙茶
silk:丝
tofu:豆腐
cheongsam :旗袍
bonsai:盆栽(花卉)
Kowtow:叩头,磕头
tong :帮会,来源于“堂”
tycoon:大亨,大款
typhoon:台风
yin and yang:阴阳
yamen/ yamun:衙门
fengshui:风水
ginseng:人参,西洋参
brainwash 洗脑
chop suey 杂碎(粤)用肉和蔬菜炒成的中国菜。
chopstick “chop” 源自粤语“夹住”- slender stick eating utensil; only the first part of the word is Chinese, from Cantonese “kap” meaning fasten/clip (but the pronunciation had been corrupted) 筷子
chow mein 炒面
dim sum 点心
gung-ho 工合(工业合作社)
ketchup – 茄汁
lose face 丢脸
sampan 舢舨
tai pan 大班(粤)a leading business entrepreneur, particularly in Hong Kong (Cantonese)
coolie : 苦力
cumshaw : 感謝
bok choy : (Cantonese) baahk-choi 白菜
cheongsam : 長衫,
kumquat : 柑橘
longan : 龍眼,
lychee : 荔枝
ni hao : 你好
pinyin : 拼音
Shih Tzu : 獅子狗
Tai Chi : from Mandarin 太極
Tao :道
wok;锅
won ton : 餛飩
wushu : 武術
Dingho(顶好,最佳)
Hope it helps.