rising tone; second tone in Mandarin
Tone colorsmāmámǎmàma
Meanings
1 sense · 3 examplesnoun
the second tone in Mandarin Chinese, characterized by a rising pitch contour; rising tone
technicalIn modern Mandarin, it has a pitch value of 35 (rising from mid to high pitch). Historically, it derives from the 'level tone' (平声) characters with voiced initial consonants in Middle Chinese.
Pǔ普
tōng通
huà话
de的
yáng阳
píng平
diào调
zhí值
shì是
sān3
shí5
。
The rising tone in Standard Mandarin has a pitch value of 35.
Gǔ古
hàn汉
yǔ语
de的
zhuó浊
shēng声
mǔ母
píng平
shēng声
zì字
zài在
xiàn现
dài代
dú读
yáng阳
píng平
。
Level tone characters with voiced initials in Old Chinese are pronounced as rising tone in modern times.
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Xué学
xí习
yáng阳
píng平
yào要
zhù注
yì意
shēng升
gāo高
de的
qū趋
shì势
。
When learning the rising tone, pay attention to the rising trend.