empty word; function word; particle
Tone colorsmāmámǎmàma
Meanings
1 sense · 3 examplesnoun
empty word; function word; word with grammatical but no concrete lexical meaning
technicalA term in traditional Chinese grammar referring to words that primarily serve grammatical functions (such as particles, prepositions, and conjunctions) rather than carrying concrete semantic content. Contrasts with 实字 (full words/content words). Also called 虚字眼儿.
Gǔ古
rén人
bǎ把
méi没
yǒu有
shí实
zài在
yì意
yì义
de的
zì字
jiào叫
zuò做
xū虚
zì字
。
The ancients called words without concrete meaning 'empty words'.
Xū虚
zì字
yǔ与
shí实
zì字
xiāng相
duì对
，
zài在
jù句
zhōng中
zhǔ主
yào要
qǐ起
yǔ语
fǎ法
zuò作
yòng用
。
Empty words are contrasted with full words and primarily serve grammatical functions in sentences.
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Zhī之
hū乎
zhě者
yě也
zhè这
xiē些
xū虚
zì字
zài在
gǔ古
dài代
Hàn汉
yǔ语
zhōng中
hěn很
cháng常
jiàn见
。
These function words like 'zhi', 'hu', 'zhe', and 'ye' were very common in Classical Chinese.