Chinese Language - Blog Posts

75 essential single-character verbs (单字动词)

When I started consuming more native Chinese content, I quickly discovered an area in which my knowledge was lacking: single-character verbs. In my experience, it’s very easy to focus on learning words consisting of two or more characters and overlook single-character words.

Driven by curiosity, I went through my Anki deck (and also wracked my brain) to generate a list of characters/words that I have learned over the past couple years (roughly). Then I selected 75 verbs that are fairly common and important to know. They skew towards intermediate and advanced vocabulary.

Definitions are from MDBG. For characters with additional meanings that I am not yet familiar with, I have bolded the meanings I want to share.

(1) 抢 qiǎng - to fight over / to rush / to scramble / to grab / to rob / to snatch

(2) 救 jiù - to save / to assist / to rescue

(3) 扶 fú - to support with the hand / to help sb up / to support oneself by holding onto something / to help

(4) 催 cuī - to urge / to press / to prompt / to rush sb / to hasten sth / to expedite

(5) 夹 jiā - to press from either side / to place in between / to sandwich / to carry sth under armpit / wedged between / between / to intersperse / to mix / to mingle / clip / folder / Taiwan pr. [jia2]

(6) 咬 yǎo - to bite / to nip

(7) 砸 zá - to smash / to pound / to fail / to muck up / to bungle

(8) 毁 huǐ - to destroy / to ruin / to defame / to slander

(9) 嚷 rǎng - to shout / to bellow / to make a big deal of sth / to make a fuss about sth

(10) 塞 sāi - to stop up / to squeeze in / to stuff / cork / stopper

(11) 贪 tān - to have a voracious desire for / to covet / greedy / corrupt

(12) 拆 chāi - to tear open / to tear down / to tear apart / to open

(13) 掏 tāo - to fish out (from pocket) / to scoop

(14) 跪 guì - to kneel

(15) 摘 zhāi - to take / to borrow / to pick (flowers, fruit etc) / to pluck / to select / to remove / to take off (glasses, hat etc)

(16) 拎 līn - to lift up / to carry in one’s hand / Taiwan pr. [ling1]

(17) 扛 káng - to carry on one’s shoulder / (fig.) to take on (a burden, duty etc)

(18) 拽 zhuài - to pull / to tug at (sth)

(19) 愣 lèng - to look distracted / to stare blankly / distracted / blank / (coll.) unexpectedly / rash / rashly

(20) 搂 lǒu - to hug / to embrace / to hold in one’s arms

(21) 垮 kuǎ - to collapse (lit. or fig.)

(22) 撑 chēng - to support / to prop up / to push or move with a pole / to maintain / to open or unfurl / to fill to bursting point / brace / stay / support

(23) 甩 shuǎi - to throw / to fling / to swing / to leave behind / to throw off / to dump (sb)

(24) 围 wéi - to encircle / to surround / all around / to wear by wrapping around (scarf, shawl)

(25) 愁 chóu - to worry about

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Spotify vocabulary

歌曲

gēqǔ

song

歌单

gēdān

playlist

队列

duìliè

queue

专辑

zhuānjí

album

艺人

yìrén

artist

随机播放

suíjī bōfàng

Shuffle

循环播放

xúnhuán bōfàng

Loop

转至播放队列

zhuàn zhì bōfàng duìliè

go to playback queue

点赞

diǎnzàn

to like

加入歌单

jiārù gēdān

add to playlist

加入播放队列

jiārù bōfàng duìliè

add to playback queue

查看专辑

chákàn zhuānjí

view album

查看艺人

chákàn yìrén

view artist

分享

fēnxiǎng

share

睡眠定时器

shuìmián dìngshíqì

sleep timer

转至歌曲电台

zhuàn zhì gēqǔ diàntái

go to song radio station

显示制作人

xiǎnshì zhìzuò rén

show producer

part 1, part 2

市场菜 Farmer's Market Foods

So the farmer's market levels are SO MUCH so I thought I would do a separate list of just the foods!

荔枝 / lì zhī / lychee

西红柿，西紅柿 / xī hóng shì / tomato

番茄 / fān qié / tomato

番茄酱，番茄醬 / fān qié jiàng / ketchup*

西红柿炒鸡蛋 / xī hóng shì chǎo jī dàn / tomato & scrabbled eggs

黄瓜， 黃瓜 / huáng guā / cucumber

南瓜 / nán guā / pumpkin

西瓜 / xī guā / watermelon

地瓜 / dì guā / yam, sweet potato

苦瓜 / kǔ guā / bitter melon

冬瓜 / dōng guā / winter melon

葡萄 / pú tao / grape

草莓 / cǎo méi / strawberry

排骨 / pái gǔ / ribs, cutlet (e.g. 猪排骨 pork ribs)

骨头汤 / gǔ tou tāng / bone soup

蘑菇 / mó gu / mushroom

木耳 / mù ěr / fungus

香菇 / xiāng gū / shiitake mushroom (fragrant)

金针菇 / jīn zhēng gū / enoki mushroom (golden needle)

剁 / duò / to chop or mince

炖 / dùn / to stew

Bonus:

傻瓜 / shǎ guā / silly melon, silly goose, idiot

*NOTE: Ketchup can only use 番茄！However 番茄/西红柿 are interchangeable for tomatoes in general

Chinese Time of Day Vocabulary

I’ve been keeping a list of words/characters related to times of day since last year. You probably know basic words like 早上, 上午, 晚上, etc. But there are so many other words and characters you may encounter in your language journey! Note: this list isn’t meant to be complete.

Sunset (I think) by Tian’anmen Square about 3 years ago.

Dawn/early morning

天亮 tiānliàng - dawn / daybreak

日出 rìchū - sunrise

早 zǎo - early / morning / Good morning! / long ago / prematurely 一大早 yīdàzǎo - at dawn / at first light / first thing in the morning 早上 zǎoshang - early morning

旭 xù - dawn / rising sun

昕 xīn - dawn

晓 xiǎo - dawn / daybreak / to know / to let sb know / to make explicit 破晓 pòxiǎo - daybreak / dawn

晗 hán - before daybreak / dawn about to break

晞 xī - dawn / to dry in the sun

晨 chén - morning / dawn / daybreak 凌晨 língchén - very early in the morning / in the wee hours 早晨 zǎochén - early morning 晨曦 chénxī - first rays of morning sun / first glimmer of dawn 清晨 qīngchén - early morning

朝 zhāo - morning 朝阳 zhāoyáng - the morning sun

黎明 límíng - dawn / daybreak

The single characters above can be found in Chinese names. Some are quite common.

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倒序词：Inverted/Palindromic Words

I’m sure you’ve noticed in your Chinese studies that there are some words for which you can switch the order of the characters and get a new word! In Chinese these can be called 倒序词. I’ve put together a list of 20 倒序词 pairs, most of which I’ve stumbled across over the past couple years. It’s so interesting to see the relationships between the words! Most example sentences are via Pleco.

牙刷 yáshuā - toothbrush 一把牙刷 刷牙 shuā//yá - to brush one’s teeth 我每天睡觉前刷牙。

开放 kāifàng - to bloom / to open / to be open (to the public) / to open up (to the outside) / to be open-minded / unrestrained by convention 图书馆从上午9点开放到下午6点。 放开 fàng//kāi - to let go / to release 妈妈放开了女儿的手。

喜欢 xǐhuan - to like / to be fond of 你喜欢不喜欢中国音乐？ 欢喜 huānxǐ - happy / joyous / delighted / to like / to be fond of 她心跳加速，满心欢喜。

著名 zhùmíng - famous / noted / well-known / celebrated 我们的中文老师是一位著名的小说家。 名著 míngzhù - masterpiece, famous book, celebrated work 我最近读的名著有点太多了。

犯罪 fàn//zuì - to commit a crime / crime / offense 听到她的犯罪历史，我大吃一惊。 罪犯 zuìfàn - criminal 警察还没有抓到那些罪犯。

事故 shìgù - accident 事故的原因还在调查之中。 故事 gùshì - old practice || gùshi - narrative / story / tale 这是一个真实的故事。

女儿 nǚ'ér - daughter 他们的三个孩子都是女儿，没有儿子。 儿女 érnǚ - children / sons and daughters 儿女有赡养老人的义务。

蜜蜂 mìfēng - bee / honeybee 一只蜜蜂 蜂蜜 fēngmì - honey 一罐蜂蜜

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小红书 Vocab

小红书 (also referred to as xiaohongshu or XHS) is a Chinese image-based social media platform. It is a combination of the feed, likes, shopping, and video aspects of instagram, with the ~aesthetics~ and majority female audience of pintrest. I've grown really fond of it and found that it's algorithm is better than instagram and MUCH better than pintrest with giving me content I enjoy.

I'm going to offer some vocab that is either unique to the platform, or slang that is found on the platform (esp in bullet comments). I don't want this to be too long, so some terms may be omitted if they are found on many other social media apps

APP 小红书: Literally "Little Red Book". Probably a play off of Chairman Mao's book of speeches and writings which is also referred to as the Little Red Book. The app is not at all political, but more so trying to evoke the "essentiality" and "knowledge" aspect of the term. 笔记: Notes. XHS's name for its posts 收藏: Favorites. Separate from likes, these are bookmarked collections. This and Likes can be hidden 赞过: Likes. Notes that you "heart" will appear here. 关注: Notes from people you follow 发现: Discovery tab 附近: Recent notes

CONTENT 直播: Live-Streams 美甲: Nail Art 穿搭: Style 美食: Food 发型: Hairstyling 头像: Avatars/Profile Pictures 动漫: Animation and Comics 彩妆: Makeup 壁纸: Wallpapers 绘画: Drawing/Art 护肤: Skincare 影视: Film/TV 游行: Travel 减肥: Weight Loss 家居: Home 家装: Interior Design 学习: Studying 读书: Reading 情感: Romance 攝影: Photography 手工: Crafts 文化: Culture 游戏: Video Games 音乐: Music 舞蹈: Dance 搞笑: Comedy 明星: Stars 文具手: Stationary 校园生活: School Life 心里: Psychology 科学科普: Science 艺术: Art 社科: Social Sciences 萌龙: Cute 综艺: Variety 箱包: Handbags 潮鞋: Sneakers 健体塑型: Bodybuilding 职场: Office 婚礼: Wedding 汽车: Automobiles 潮玩手办: Collectable Figures 母婴: Parenting 机车: Motorbikes 户外: Outdoors 运动: Sports 露营: Camping COMMENTS (Things you'll see in tags/descriptions/bullet comments) PLOG: Picture blog. Usually like a blog, but with photos/photo collage (also sometimes vlogs get this tag even though they're videos) 爱自己的100种方式: Originally from a feature on Douyin that would give a "treat yourself" style prompt if you comment this phrase 泰酷辣: Cool. Took off from this meme. “太酷啦” 上岸: Similar to "Goals". Usually posted to applaud an achievement/amazing life experience 巨: Super. Usually used in describing really tasty food “巨巨巨好吃” cos: Cosplay emo: The original meaning—emotional. More often used to mean a depressed mood than the style/subculture 磕: to ship a couple (cp) For the Lesbians t: Tomboy/masc lesbian (Sub-types include 铁t，奶t，娘t, 爷t, 长发t, 短发t) p: Femme lesbian (p said to come from "Pretty girl" or “婆”） h: neither femme nor masc/futch le/les/啦啦: Lesbian 双女主: F/F couple (IRL or in fiction) 淘淘乐/TTL：T/T relationship 泡泡龙/PPL: P/P relationship 黄鹤楼HI: H/H relationship TPL: T/P relationship 🐟: Ultra passive bottoms