Chinese is an ideographic language. Each character has a meaning, and we can arrange them to create many new words, just like playing lego! Today we are going to introduce some words that can also be used after reversing.
Some words are combined by two characters which have similar meanings. The meaning of the words won’t change after reversing the words.
|
Reversing Words |
Meanings |
Examples |
|
ä»Łæż——æżä»Ł dàitì-------tìdài |
Instead of; take place of |
ä»ä»Łæż/æżä»Łä»ć„ć„ćœćźéšć. TÄ dàitì/ tìdài tÄ gÄge dÄng shÇuményuán. He replaced his brother as goalkeeper. |
|
æ æ——ææ qínggÇn-- gÇnqíng |
emotion |
ć«æć¶äœ çæ æ/ææ ïŒæłćäœ ć°±ćäžéć§ă Bié yìzhì nÇ de qíngÇn/ gÇnqíng, xiÇng kĆ« nÇ jiù kĆ« yì tĆng ba. Don't hold your emotion in, cry if you want to. |
|
æŒèźČ——èźČæŒ yÇnjiÇng--jiÇngyÇn |
give a lecture; make a speech |
ä»çæŒèźČ/èźČæŒèżćäș性ć€æ°äșșçæżæă TÄ de yÇnjiÇng/ jiÇngyÇn yínghé le dàduĆshù rén de yuànwàng. His lecture hit the will of the most. |
|
éźèŻą——èŻąéź wènxún--xúnwèn |
inquiry |
æšćŠäœćšæŻäžȘéąćèŻąéź/éźèŻąéźéąïŒ Nín rúhé zài mÄige lÇngyù xúnwèn/ wènxún wèntí? How do you ask the question in each domain? |
|
犻櫗—ć«çŠ» líbié------biélí |
partingïŒ farewell |
犻ć«/ć«çŠ»çæ„ćæŻćŠäčæŻçžèçæ„ćïŒ Líbié/biélí de rìzi shìfÇu yÄ shì xiÄngjù de rìzi? Shall the day of parting be the day of gathering? |
|
积环——环积 jÄ«lÄi------lÄjÄ« |
accumulate |
æćȘæłćšéŁé积环/环积äžäșæçšçç»éȘă WÇ zhÇ xiÇng zài nàli jÄ«lÄi/ lÄijÄ« yìxiÄ yÇuyòng de jÄ«ngyàn. I just want to accumulate some useful experience there. |
|
ćżćŠ——ćŠćż jìdù--------dùjì |
to envy |
äœ æČĄæçç±ćŠćż/ćżćŠæă NÇ méiyou lÇyóu dùjì/ jìdù wÇ, You have no reason to envy me. |
|
ćæ°——æ°ć lìqì---------qìlì |
strength; force |
æČĄæè°çćæ°/æ°ćæŻćŸäžä»ă Méiyou shéi de lìqì/ qìlì bÇ de shàng tÄ. No man equals him in strength. |
|
çŒć——ćçŒ HuÇnhé----héhuÇn |
to ease; |
çŽ§ćŒ ć łçł»ææçŒć/ćçŒă JÇnzhÄng guÄnxi yÇu suÇ huÇnhé/ héhuÇn. Tensions had eased. |
|
莚掗—æŽèŽš zhìpÇ----pÇzhì |
simple and unadorned; plain |
ć„čéŁæ ŒçźçșŠè莚æŽ/æŽèŽšă TÄ fÄnggé jiÇnyuÄ ér zhìpÇ/ pÇzhì. Her style is pared-down and simple. |
|
äșçž——çžäș hùxiÄng---xiÄnghù |
Mutual; Each other |
æ仏ćșèŻ„äșçž/çžäșćžźć©! WÇmen yÄ«nggÄi hùxiÄng/ xiÄnghù bÄngzhù. We should help each other ! |
|
ćć趗—ćč¶ć tĆ«nbìng---bìngtĆ«n |
To merger; To swallow up |
éŁäžȘć€§ć Źćžććč¶/ćč¶ćäșéŁäžȘć°ć Źćžă Nàge dà gĆngsÄ« tĆ«nbìng/ bìngtĆ«n le nàge xiÇo gĆngsÄ«. The larger firm absorbed the smaller one. |
After reversing: nouns become verbs
One more interesting thing is that you will know the usages of these things after you reversing the words. Because these nouns will become verbs.
What can you do with a toothbrush? It is obvious that we need to brush our teeth with a toothbrush everyday. Learn how we say toothbrush in Chinese and you'll easily know how we say to brush one’s teeth in Chinese at the same time. Please check the following list.
|
Meanings |
Reversing Words |
Meanings |
|||
|
Nouns |
Verbs |
||||
|
toothbrush |
çć· yáshuÄ |
ć·ç shuÄyá |
Brush one’s teeth |
||
|
glove |
æć„ shÇutào |
ć„æ tàoshÇu |
To cover one’s hands |
||
|
Pot lid |
é ç guĆgài |
çé gàiguĆ |
To cover the pot |
||
|
Bottle plug |
ç¶ćĄ píngsÄi |
ćĄç¶ sÄipíng |
To cork a bottle |
||
|
sheepfold |
çŸć yángquàn |
ćçŸ quànyáng |
To round up the sheep |
||
|
fan |
éŁæ fÄngshàn |
æéŁ shànfÄng |
To fan |
||
|
Fishing net |
é±Œçœ yúwÇng |
çœé±Œ wÇngyú |
To fish with net |
||
|
Door lock |
éšé ménsuÇ |
ééš suÇmén |
To lock the door |
||
|
Respiration;mask |
ćŁçœ© kÇuzhào |
çœ©ćŁ zhàokÇu |
To cover the mouth with a mask |
||
All the words could be made into a sentence with çšă“çš” means to use.
For example:
1) æçšçć·ć·çă
WÇ yòng yáshuÄ shuÄyá.
I brush my teeth with a toothbrush.
2) ä»çšé ççé ă
TÄ yòng guĆgài gàiguĆ.
He covered the pot with a lit.
3) æçé»ć± äč°äșäžäžȘæ°éšéïŒä»çšéšéééšă
WÇ de línjĆ« mÇi le yí ge xÄ«n ménsuÇ, tÄ yòng ménsuÇ suÇmén.
My neighbor bought a new lock, he locked the door with the lock.
3. Sometimes the words after reversing, the meaning of the new words will change to be relevant.
For instance, many people drink milk a lot, do you know where the milk from ? Yes, you are right! The milk is from dairy cow. The milk in Chinese is ç愶ïŒniúnÇi, and the dairy cow in Chinese is 愶çïŒnÇiniú). In the same way, the honey èèïŒfÄngmìïŒis from the bee (mìfÄngïŒ. You will see more interesting examples on the list.
|
Meanings |
Reversing Words |
Meanings |
|
|
Well (noun) |
æ°Žäș shuÇjÇng |
äșæ°Ž jÇngshuÇ |
Well water (the water from a well) |
|
gold |
é»é huángjÄ«n |
éé» jÄ«nhuáng |
golden |
|
snow |
çœéȘ báixuÄ |
éȘçœ xuÄbái |
Snow-white |
|
hog |
èçȘ ròuzhĆ« |
çȘè zhĆ«ròu |
pork |
|
poisonous snake |
æŻè dúshé |
èæŻ shédú |
snake venom |
|
pest |
ćźłè« hàichóng |
è«ćźł chónghài |
damage by insects |
|
to rent a house |
ç§æż zĆ«fáng |
æżç§ fángzĆ« |
the rent for a house |
But be careful, there are also a number of words which are composed of two similar words cannot be reversed. For example, æłèŻïŒFÇyÇïŒmeans French language, but èŻæłïŒyÇfÇïŒmeans grammar. Their meanings are totally different. So you need to be careful when you are using these words, you should avoid to make mistakes. Here are more examples on the list:
|
Meanings |
Reversing Words |
Meanings |
|
|
celebrity |
ćäșș míngrén |
äșșć rénmíng |
The name of a person |
|
Shanghai(a city in China) |
äžæ”· ShànghÇi |
æ”·äž hÇishang |
on the sea |
|
story |
æ äș gùshì |
äșæ shìgù |
accident |
|
to calculate (number) |
èźĄçź jìsuàn |
çźèźĄ suànjì |
to calculate (other people in a bad way) |
|
necktie |
éąćžŠ lÇngdài |
ćžŠéą dàilÇng |
to guide; to lead |
|
lover; mistress |
æ äșș qíngrén |
äșșæ rénqíng |
human relationship |
|
immediately |
é©Źäž mÇshang |
äžé©Ź shàngmÇ |
to mount a horse |
|
illiteracy |
æçČ wénmáng |
çČæ mángwén |
braille |
|
to come ture; to realize |
ćźç° shíxiàn |
ç°ćź xiànshí |
reality |
Every coin has two sides, the pros of learning these reversing words; you will surprised that you will not only learn one word, but also learn another word at the same time. You will see they are very useful. However there are lots of reversing words in Chinese, it may be easy to make mistakes when we choose the wrong words. But like old sayings said, we will learn from mistakes. Just see things in a positive way, and it is your LEGO time, have fun with learning Chinese!
Hero image by Omar Albeik on Unsplash
