early vernacular Chinese; pre-modern written vernacular
Tone colorsmāmámǎmàma
Meanings
1 sense · 4 examplesnoun
early vernacular Chinese; the written form of spoken language from the Tang and Song dynasties to the May Fourth Movement
formalContrasts with classical Chinese (文言文). Represents the transitional stage to modern written vernacular, characterized by more colloquial grammar and vocabulary than classical texts.
Zǎo早
qī期
bái白
huà话
xiǎo小
shuō说
zài在
míng明
qīng清
shí时
qī期
fēi非
cháng常
liú流
xíng行
。
Early vernacular novels were extremely popular during the Ming and Qing dynasties.
Yán研
jiū究
zǎo早
qī期
bái白
huà话
yǒu有
zhù助
yú于
lǐ理
jiě解
xiàn现
dài代
hàn汉
yǔ语
de的
lái来
yuán源
。
Studying early vernacular Chinese helps us understand the origins of modern Chinese.
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《
Shuǐ水
hǔ浒
zhuàn传
》
shì是
yòng用
zǎo早
qī期
bái白
huà话
xiě写
chéng成
de的
jīng经
diǎn典
zuò作
pǐn品
。
Water Margin is a classic work written in early vernacular Chinese.
Yǔ与
wén文
yán言
wén文
xiāng相
bǐ比
，
zǎo早
qī期
bái白
huà话
gèng更
jiē接
jìn近
dāng当
shí时
de的
kǒu口
yǔ语
。
Compared to classical Chinese, early vernacular was closer to the spoken language of the time.