loanword; foreign borrowing
Tone colorsmāmámǎmàma
Meanings
1 sense · 4 examplesnoun
loanword; word borrowed from a foreign language
Commonly used in linguistics to describe words like '沙发' (sofa, from English) or '沙龙' (salon, from French). Such words are often transliterated (音译) or translated by meaning (意译).
“
Shā沙
fā发
”
shì是
Hàn汉
yǔ语
zhōng中
cháng常
jiàn见
de的
wài外
lái来
yǔ语
，
lái来
zì自
Yīng英
yǔ语
“
sofas
o
f
a
”
。
"Sofa" is a common loanword in Chinese, coming from the English word "sofa".
Xǔ许
duō多
wài外
lái来
yǔ语
yǐ已
jīng经
chéng成
wéi为
wǒ我
men们
rì日
cháng常
shēng生
huó活
de的
yī一
bù部
fèn分
。
Many loanwords have already become part of our daily lives.
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Zhè这
gè个
wài外
lái来
yǔ语
shì是
cóng从
Fǎ法
yǔ语
jiè借
lái来
de的
。
This loanword is borrowed from French.
Yán研
jiū究
wài外
lái来
yǔ语
yǒu有
zhù助
yú于
liǎo了
jiě解
bù不
tóng同
wén文
huà化
zhī之
jiān间
de的
jiāo交
liú流
。
Studying loanwords helps us understand the exchange between different cultures.