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Questions tagged [terminology]

For questions about technical or specialized words in fields like IT, politics, sports, etc.

The definition of the word "terminology" is: "the body of terms used with a particular technical application in a subject of study, profession, etc.".

This tag covers questions about specialized vocabulary of any field. Some fields of particular interest, or fields with a high number of questions, may have their own tag.

It's always appropriate to tag your question with "terminology", but if a narrower tag exists, please use it. You can use "terminology" and the narrower tag together.

A curated list of specialized and technical dictionaries can be found at:

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What does the term "Chinese" mean?

The Wikipedia article on Chinese says that many varieties of Chinese are mutually unintelligible. That is, I can't just learn "Chinese" and speak "Chinese" with anyone living in China or Taiwan. What does the term "Chinese" mean? What makes a…
Golden Cuy
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Character vs. glyph vs. grapheme/morphogram vs. ideogram vs. logogram vs. pictogram vs. symbol vs. syllable

My 15-year-old daughter is learning Chinese, but these different terms baffle us! How do they differ? Where do these other terms fit into Table 3.5, which contains merely four of the terms in the title of this question? Chinese S.E. (this site) has…
user11787
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理由的理: specify a character by context

This method is often used to clarify which exact character of a certain pronunciation is meant, for example when saying one's name: 我叫王立：不是力量的力，是成立的立。 It is used so frequently that I assume there is a word for it (like a historical method to…
Philipp
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How to express words variants in Chinese?

Variant characters are often called 异体字. How about words? E.g.: 歺厅 is a variant of 餐厅 歺厅: 餐厅的异体词? 餐厅的变体? [Specifically looking for XX的XX, i.e.: 餐厅的XX]
Mou某
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Differentiating Between Dove And Pigeon In Chinese

鸽子 is used interchangeably for both dove and pigeon. How to differentiate between the both of them in Chinese? Even 白鸽 which I would totally imagine would mean dove, both ABC and KEY just define it as: pigeon Any ideas?
Mou某
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Female Equivalent: 膀爷

It's summer time guys the 膀爷s are out on full parade! Although I haven't seen that many females as exhibitionist as the males - there's still a fair share of ladies showing off their midriffs. What's the female equivalent of a 膀爷? 膀娘? 膀婆?
Mou某
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Why it's called 蕁麻疹?

I tried to find out why hives in Mandarin is called 蕁麻疹 to no avail. 蕁麻 in English is urtica, a genus of flowering plants in the family Urticaceae. Please help! Thank you ~
Maurice
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Do people in Taiwan add the 阿 or 儿 as suffixes to a family member's name like they do in China?

Do people in Taiwan add the 阿 or 儿 as suffixes to a family member's name like they do in China? I know that there are some similarities and differences and I was wondering if they also extended to diminutives. Also, are those used for loved ones…
Amelia Albergee
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What is the Chinese term for "architrave"?

When you put a door frame (or window frame) in a wall there is an ugly gap between the door frame and the wall along the top and on both sides. Normally, we use strips of thin, moulded wood to cover this gap. In English we call those strips of wood…
Pedroski
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What does "Fangcang [hospital]" mean?

What does "Fangcang" literally mean in "Fangcang hospital" where China relocated those infected with Covid-19, but who had only mild (or no) symptoms? Somewhat "close but no cigar", a Lancet paper explains The term Fangcang, which sounds similar to…
the gods from engineering
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What do chinese people understand by word 漫画 "manhua"?

I mean, do they use this term to name comics from all the world, or just those native, from China? Has something changed about naming with time? Does anyone still uses term 连漫画？ 谢谢！
user30383
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Different terms for money throughout history

What different terms for money have there been throughout history? Like: 孔方兄 上清童子 Time period used too would be nice.
Mou某
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Is there a name for 2-character "in-between" words in which both characters are abbreviations for individual 2-character words?

As I improve my vocabulary, I'm encountering a lot of "in-between words": they are 2-character words where both characters are both contractions of individual 2-character words. I don't know if these words have a name. Question: Is there a name for…
Becky 李蓓
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What exactly does 服侍我大脚 means?

Chinese is my native language but this is the first time I heard about this term. What does it means? It's used in a sentence as follow: 我的三个小美人，不要怕，只要你们乖乖听话，用心服侍我大脚，有你们享得福 Does it actually means to take good cares of his feet (like…
Alex
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What's the mathematical relationship between Characters, Syllables, Morphemes, Words?

Please see the blue box below. The deceased author didn't clearly expound the mathematical relationship between four lexical items. Is my guess correct? Words ≤ Morphemes ≤ Characters ≤ Syllables Henry Rogers (1940-2010), Writing Systems…
user11787
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