Meaning of 文言
文言 means classical Chinese; literary Chinese; the written language based on Old Chinese used before the May Fourth Movement. Pronounced wén yán.
- classical Chinese; literary Chinese; the written language based on Old Chinese used before the May Fourth Movement
Definitions & Examples
Wén文
yán言
shì是
Zhōng中
guó国
gǔ古
dài代
de的
shū书
miàn面
yǔ语
yán言
，
yǔ与
xiàn现
dài代
Hàn汉
yǔ语
kǒu口
yǔ语
chā差
bié别
hěn很
dà大
。
Classical Chinese was the written language of ancient China, differing greatly from modern spoken Chinese.
Xué学
xí习
wén文
yán言
xū需
yào要
zhǎng掌
wò握
dà大
liàng量
de的
gǔ古
dài代
cí词
huì汇
hé和
yǔ语
fǎ法
guī规
zé则
。
Studying classical Chinese requires mastering a large number of ancient vocabulary items and grammatical rules.
Zhè这
piān篇
zuò作
wén文
yòng用
le了
yī一
xiē些
wén文
yán言
jù句
shì式
，
xiǎn显
de得
hěn很
yǒu有
wén文
cǎi采
。
This composition uses some classical Chinese sentence patterns, appearing very literary.
Tā他
néng能
jiāng将
bái白
huà话
wén文
liú流
chàng畅
de地
fān翻
yì译
chéng成
wén文
yán言
。
He can translate modern vernacular Chinese into classical Chinese fluently.