Glenn Morton wrote:
" As to your
example of 'to eat' that should be chi, not shi."
Glenn, do you really think I'd be that sloppy? : ) While /chi/ or /chi fan/ is the common word for "to eat," there's also /shi/. My dictionary gives the following meanings for the associated character: "1. to eat 2. food; meal 3. livelihood; living 4. (an old usage) salary; pay 5. eclipse."
This example shows that possibilities for ambiguity are multifold: not only can the same sound often mean many different things, but the same character can also have several meanings, just as words in English can have several different meanings.
Other Chinese words that can mean "to eat" are: /can/, /jin/, /ru/, /yong/, and /dan/. Of these I've only witnessed /yong/ in practice, as in /qing yong/, said by a host(ess) at a meal.
Don
Received on Sun Jul 4 04:13:35 2004
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