漢語
See also: 汉语
Chinese
    
| Han people | speech; language; dialect | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| trad. (漢語) | 漢 | 語 | |
| simp. (汉语) | 汉 | 语 | |
Pronunciation
    
Noun
    
漢語
Usage notes
    
漢語/汉语 (Hànyǔ) usually refers to spoken Chinese, however since 古代漢語/古代汉语 (gǔdài hànyǔ, “Old Chinese”) is only accessible to modern people in the written form, it can also refer to written Chinese depending on context. 漢語/汉语 (Hànyǔ) can also imply 普通話/普通话 (pǔtōnghuà, “Standard Mandarin Chinese”), especially in the term 現代漢語/现代汉语 (xiàndài hànyǔ, “Modern Chinese”). Ethnic minorities in China often refer to Standard Mandarin as 漢語/汉语 (Hànyǔ) in order to contrast it with their respective ethnic languages.
Synonyms
    
Derived terms
    
Japanese
    
| Kanji in this term | |
|---|---|
| 漢 | 語 | 
| かん Grade: 3 | ご Grade: 2 | 
| on’yomi | |
| Alternative spelling | 
|---|
| 漢語 (kyūjitai) | 
Etymology
    
From Middle Chinese 漢語 (MC hɑnH ŋɨʌX, “Han, Chinese + speech, language”).
Noun
    
漢語 • (kango)
- kango, a class of lexical items derived from Classical Chinese, composed of words that:
- retain their original meanings in Classical Chinese, such as 天 (ten, “heaven”), 天下 (tenka, “the world”) or 菩薩 (bosatsu, “bodhisattva”)
- were repurposed to translate Western concepts, such as 社会 (shakai, “society”), 文化 (bunka, “culture”), 過渡 (kato, “transition”) or 博士 (hakushi, “doctor”)
- were newly coined from Classical Chinese syllables, morphemes or graphemes, such as 出超 (shutchō, “trade surplus”) or 腺 (sen, “gland”)
- were not borrowed from spoken Chinese or non-Classical-Chinese texts, nothing such as 北京 (Pekin, “Beijing”), 銭 (zeni, “money”) or 博士 (hakase, “doctor”)
 
- (less commonly) the Chinese language
- Synonym: 中国語 (Chūgokugo)
 
- the ancient Chinese language, the language of the Han (漢/汉 (hàn)) ethnicity
See also
    
- 音読み (on'yomi)
    This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.