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What does 朱幂 and 黄幂 mean in this ancient illustration of the Pythagorean Theorem?

The above is an illustration of the Pythagorean Theorem from the work 周髀算经. On the left it says: 勾股幂合以成弦幂 Which I think is a 8-character statement of the Pythagorean Theorem, as follows: 勾 ("adjacent" in modern terminology) 股 ("opposite" in…
Becky 李蓓
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Glyph origin of component 龺?

Recently after I've happened to come across the component 倝 (gàn; sunrise, dawn) (Baxter-Sagart OC: *[k]ˤar-s), I was curious about the left component, or 龺, since I've also seen this component in other characters such as 朝 (cháo; dynasty/zhāo;…
prismcool
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Measure word for 中药 and 西药

My question is simple... The correct measure word for 中药 西药 Appreciate your time!
Mario Absgard
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Characters with only one possible next character

In English, when one encounters "q", it is almost certain that the next letter will be a "u". I am looking for a similar situation in Chinese. Is there a character A which is universally (or nearly universally) followed by some other character…
John L
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Word for “planet”

This Wiktionary article mentions that the term for “planet” is 行星 and that it was “[c]oined by Alexander Wylie and Li Shanlan in 1859,” from characters meaning “travel” and “star,” which makes sense as planets are, to the eye, “traveling…
Pierre Paquette
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Does 我在家说英语 mean "I speak English at home" or "I'm at home speaking English"?

我在家说英语 If this means "I speak English at home" then why doesn't this 他在那里说英语 mean "he speaks English over there"? Instead according to a translation I have, it means "he's over there speaking English".
Thomas
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What does 卡了壳 mean?

Here's the context. I am guessing it means "stumble". 其他选手则要么在微妙的措辞上卡了壳 Other contestants stumble on delicate phrasing. But according to this it means "quiet/silenced"? Q: 步枪卡了壳是什么意思？ A: 步枪卡了壳 - 不响 咯咯
Steve
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Is 泵 the only transliterated loanword with its own logogram in all of Chinese?

Phonetic transliterations of foreign words are not uncommon in Mandarin, e.g. 沙发 for "sofa", 逻辑 for "logic", etc. Much less common are what I would call "transliterated characters" or "phono-semantic transliterations", where a loanword is assigned a…
Sanchuan
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Does 从来 translate to "always"?

Does anyone know if 从来 translates to "always"? And if it is, is it used in the same way? For example if I want to say: "I always buy oranges", would that be “我从来买橘子”？
Bella
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Is the saying/idiom 天生我才必有用 religious?

I recently learned of the idiom "天生我才必有用," which if you translate it directly in google translate, is "everybody is good for something." However, I am curious about the origin of the saying and the context of the phrasing.
T L
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What does 餅乾 mean in Taiwan?

I'm unfamiliar with the variety of Mandarin spoken in Taiwan, so I was surprised to see a chilli-snack 香脆椒 referred to as 餅乾: http://mall.tw100years.com/goods.php?id=9 真不敢相信這真是美味的餅乾！看起來是紅紅的辣椒，吃起來是香、脆外加點淡淡的鹹，不但能幫您排去宿便，還能養顏美容！ The definition of 餅乾…
congusbongus
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Is there a list / database of Chinese mathematical terms (for complex math)?

Some things like this or advanced/graduate school math (like Group Theory, Ring Theory, Quantum Mechanics, etc.). Does Chinese have its own names for these types of things? If so, where can I find a big list of some sort, hopefully with English…
Lance
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How to address fellow students junior to oneself (学妹，学弟)?

I have sometimes wondered what would be the appropriate way of addressing (fellow) students that are junior to oneself. Given name? Full name? Name + 妹/第? Are there even cases where one can use 哥/兄 etc.? I assume 小+surname is not used, is that…
mazed
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How to display CJK Extension H?

CJK Unified Ideographs Extension H has just been released this week. BabelStone Han only has: 53.6% coverage of CJK Ext. H. HanaMin seems to have fallen off the face of the earth. They did not even release an update for CJK Ext. G. Which fonts…
Mou某
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What is the meaning of 死 in 死搬兵书上的理论?

公元前260年，赵括带兵出战。一直盲目自信、轻视秦军的他完全改变了廉颇的作战方案，死搬兵书上的理论，主动进攻秦军，结果数十万赵军全部被杀，丢掉了宝贵的生命。 This is from the Standard Course Book of HSK5, chapter 15. What is the meaning of 死? Baidu and Google literally translate this character (in this paragraph) as blindly,…
Konstantinos
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