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Meaning of 不之禁也 in context

Background and Question I am again translating Dai Hongci‘s diary from a visit in Vienna during the year 1906 into German. It contains the characters 不之禁也 in relation to indulging the students pastime activities. Unfortunately, 禁 is one of the most…
Ludi
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Difference between 十几个人 and 几十个人

I read somewhere that in order to express "over a number of things/people" we can use this pattern: (multiples of ten)+几+classifier+noun like 十几个人:more than ten people (less than 20) However, somewhere else I came across this…
Mohammad Talebi
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What were the Olympic Chinese table tennis players yelling when they scored?

Watching the men's team table tennis gold medal match in the Tokyo 2020(1) Olympics, I noticed that the Chinese players were yelling something every time they scored. I tried googling to see what they were yelling, but all the articles I found said…
T Hummus
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7 answers

What does 老铁 mean?

I found some people call others 老铁. What does this mean? Does it mean friend? I can't find this usage in any dictionaries.
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Meaning of early written versions of 地 and etymology?

The glyph origin section of https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E5%9C%B0 shows characters that look nothing like the modern "地" (with the exception of the "Small Seal Script" in "Shuowen Jiezi"): I am wondering if someone can interpret/break-down the…
D.R
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Selecting resources to improve reading for upper-intermediate level?

There is a great question on 'how to practice reading for beginners' at the moment that's got a lot of really useful answers, and so I figured I'd ask for some useful things closer to my level. Does anyone have good resources for improving reading…
Ciaocibai
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2 answers

Interpretation of 冂 in 大盂鼎

I was recently looking into the origins of the character「冖」, which《說文新證》states does not appear on its own in the texts excavated so far: 現有考古文字材料未見獨體的冂(偏旁或作冖)字,... However, searching「冖」on 小學堂 gives a few results, one of which comes from 大盂鼎. The…
wang_xiao_ming
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Pronunciation of 什么

什么 (shénme) sounds to my ears more like (shéme). Assuming I'm hearing correctly, is this just a common contraction of this word, or is the sequence "-n" + "m-" generally contracted to "-m-"?
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(In)complete list of Free Chinese Input Methods in current use

I have found this list of Chinese (and a few other) input methods below, from https://github.com/chinese-opendesktop/cin-tables , from which I am trying to make an updated list. I can see clearly many familiar Chinese input methods, such as Wubi,…
Luke Sharkey
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3 answers

How are consecutive neutral tones pronounced? What are the pitch levels?

I understand how neutral tones are supposed to sound following regular-numbered tones Here is a helpful Wikipedia chart illustrating how the preceding tone impacts the neutral tone But what about consecutive neutral tones? Examples: 真的吗? (Starts…
MuchAppreciated25
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How did 中風 become “suffering a stroke”?

I have learned the Chinese names of some common ailments and they are surprisingly very descriptive and intuitive once you know the meanings of the individual characters. For example: 糖尿病,高血壓,心律失常. But what happened to 中風, and how did this become…
cgo
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7 answers

Pronunciation of word-initial glides (pinyin 'y' and 'w')

As a non-native speaker, I read pinyin and want to pronounce 'yi' as /ji:/ and 'wu' as /wu:/. But sometimes I think I hear just /i:/ and /u:/. Is that really the case or am I just (not) hearing things? I don't ever hear 'yang' or 'wang' as /jaŋ/…
Mitch
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Which came first? Chinese 蘑菇 or Mongolian мөөг?

Wiktionary isn't certain whether the Chinese 蘑菇 (mógū) is a loanword from Mongolian мөөг (möög) or vice-versa. Both mean "mushroom" and are pronounced very similarly so there's clearly some relationship, but I don't know which came first. I can't…
user23661
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1 answer

Differences: 信息 vs 讯息?

What are the differences between: 信息 vs 讯息? Perhaps 信 is more related to the mailing? Perhaps 讯 is more related to the information? Perhaps 息 is related to the breathing?
wonderich
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Chinese names for zeptoseconds and yoctoseconds

While compiling a list of names for fractions of seconds which are in the International System of Units, I stumbled upon two curious fractions of seconds whose names I'm unable to locate anywhere, and I don't trust what Google Translator gives as it…
Rusurano
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