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In what contexts are both used to mean ice-cream? Is one used in more formal occasions?

user2246
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4 Answers4

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冰激凌 is the translation in Mainland China.
冰淇淋 is used in Taiwan and Hong Kong.
Hong Konger also call ice-cream as 雪糕.

leesei
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    冰淇淋 is used in mainland China too, and according to my observation in mainland, this one is used more often. While formally speaking, both of them are included in 《现代汉语词典》. – Stan Apr 28 '14 at 10:35
  • In my life experience (I grew up in northern China), 冰淇淋 is not the same as 雪糕. 雪糕 are something like a long bar, with a wooden stick to hold it. 冰淇淋 are more likely to be something inside a plastic or paper case and eaten by a wooden spoon. – zsf222 Apr 29 '14 at 15:50
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    Names are really a regional thing. The bar with a stick thing is 冰棒 to me. – user58955 Apr 29 '14 at 20:22
  • 冰淇淋 is used way more often than 冰激凌 in Mainland China. This answer is not correct. 雪糕 is, as zsf222 said, a slightly different form of icecream. – deutschZuid May 01 '14 at 04:00
  • in my hometown Xi'an I only heard about 冰淇淋 but never heard 冰激凌 in childhood – xenophōn Oct 19 '17 at 03:35
  • @deutschZuid The answer is correct. The current standard translation of ice cream on the Chinese mainland is 冰激凌. This is verifiable in 《现代汉语规范词典》现在一般写作冰激凌 and in other authoritative general-purpose dictionaries using 冰激凌 as the main entry and directing 冰淇淋 to it. Colloquially it's a different story. At least in my region, we always use 冰淇淋. I didn't pay attention to the pronunciation in other regions. In Taiwan, dictionaries treat 冰淇淋 as the main entry and omit 冰激凌 or direct 冰激凌 to 冰淇淋. – lilysirius May 13 '23 at 03:59
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Actually they are almost the same. The difference is：The most important dictionary says one is nomartive. In fact the other is quite popular. You can use either of them in daily life.

ivy
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They are the same and 冰淇淋 is used more offen.

BJ Niu
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They are the same thing.

See this: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E5%86%B0%E6%B7%87%E6%B7%8B

冰 is ice. 淇淋 or 激凌 comes from English "cream", phonetically translated.

王博龙
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