Tag: Usage Examples

Categories
Current Events Technology

yìmiáo

yìmiáo (yì·miáo epidemic · {seedling → [vaccine]} → [vaccine] 疫苗) ← Tap/click to show/hide the “flashcard”

[Note: Tap/click on a Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) expression to reveal its “flashcard”, tap/click on a “flashcard” or its Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) expression to hide the “flashcard”.]

As of this writing, deep in the year 2021, the subject of the COVID-19 pandemic has been, to say the least, on people’s minds now for a while. So, it would be good to be able to refer to things related to it in Mandarin when speaking to people in the Mandarin field, or when speaking to our brothers and sisters in the truth.

electron microscope image of SARS-CoV-2—also known as 2019-nCoV, the virus that causes COVID-19

An electron microscope image of SARS-CoV-2—also known as 2019-nCoV, the virus that causes COVID-19
Creative Commons Attribution License logo NIAID

This week’s MEotW, “yìmiáo (yì·miáo epidemic · {seedling → [vaccine]} → [vaccine] 疫苗)”, means “vaccine”. Interestingly, this expression’s literal meaning is “epidemic seedling”, which is appropriate considering that vaccines have been made from disease-causing microorganisms, without being live, full-grown versions of them.

Examples

To say something meaning “I have received one dose of vaccine” in Mandarin, one might say:

📖 📄 📘 “Wǒ (I 我) dǎle (dǎ·le {have been struck with → [generalized verb]} · [indicates a change] 打了) yìmiáo (yì·miáo epidemic · {seedling → [vaccine]} → [vaccine] 疫苗) yí (one 一) cì (time 次).”

To refer in Mandarin to “an arrangement that will be even more effective than vaccines at eliminating disease”, we could use this phrase:

📖 📄 📘 “yí (one 一) ge ([mw] 个 個/个) huì (will 会 會) bǐ ({compared to} 比) yìmiáo (yì·miáo epidemic · {seedlings → [vaccines]} → [vaccines] 疫苗) gèng (more 更) yǒuxiào (yǒu·xiào having · effect → [effective] 有效) de (-ly 地) xiāochú (xiāo·chú eliminate · {get rid of} 消除) jíbìng (disease 疾病) de (’s 的) ānpái (ān·pái {placing in a suitable position} · arranging → [arrangement] 安排)”

Categories
Culture Theocratic

xǐlè

xǐlè (xǐ·lè {[being] happy} · {[being] joyful} → [joy | [is] joyful] 喜乐 喜樂) ← Tap/click to show/hide the “flashcard”

The second part of the fruitage of the spirit listed is joy.— Jiālātàishū (Jiālātài·shū Galatia · Book → [Galatians] 加拉太书 加拉太書) 5:22, 23.

Galatians 5:22, 23 (WOL nwtsty-CHS)

The English word “joy” is translated into Mandarin in the above scripture as “xǐlè (xǐ·lè {being happy} · {being joyful} → [joy] 喜乐 喜樂)”, this week’s MEotW.

Note that the Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus information for “xǐlè (xǐ·lè {being happy} · {being joyful} → [joy] 喜乐 喜樂)”, as used in the above context, shows that its morphemes “xǐ (like; {be fond of} | {[being] happy; delighted; pleased} [→ [happy event (e.g. wedding; pregnancy) | happiness; delight]] 喜)” and “lè ({be glad to; find pleasure in; enjoy} | {[being] happy; joyful; pleased; cheerful; glad} [→ [pleasure; enjoyment]] 乐 樂)” in the above context literally mean “being happy” and “being joyful”, respectively. The Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus information renders the literal meanings this way because in this case “xǐ (like; {be fond of} | {[being] happy; delighted; pleased} [→ [happy event (e.g. wedding; pregnancy) | happiness; delight]] 喜)” and “lè ({be glad to; find pleasure in; enjoy} | {[being] happy; joyful; pleased; cheerful; glad} [→ [pleasure; enjoyment]] 乐 樂)” seem to be stative verbs.

Stative Verbs

The ABC Chinese-English Dictionary, edited by John DeFrancis and Victor H. Mair, among others, tells us the following about the entries in it that are marked as stative verbs:

S.V. (Stative Verb, Xíngróngcí 形容词).

These entries are frequently translated into English as adjectives, even though they actually behave in Chinese as verbs. That is, the sense of ‘to be’ is already incorporated into these verbs, e.g. Zhèige hěn hǎo ‘This is quite good.’ In fact, it is simply ungrammatical to place the verb shì, ‘to be’, directly in front of a stative verb.

Because stative verbs are actually verbs, they are directly negated by bù, e.g. bù hǎo ‘not good’, and can be further modified by adverbs of degree such as hěn ‘quite’, fēicháng ‘extremely’ and shífēn ‘very; utterly’. One common function of stative verbs is that they may serve as adverbs to other actions, e.g. mànmàn in mànmàn chī ‘Take your time (eating)’ and rènzhēn in rènzhēn de xiě ‘write carefully’.

Sometimes a Verbal Noun

One might wonder, though, why “xǐlè (xǐ·lè {being happy} · {being joyful} → [joy] 喜乐 喜樂)” is used in the above scripture to translate “joy”, a noun, if “xǐ (like; {be fond of} | {[being] happy; delighted; pleased} [→ [happy event (e.g. wedding; pregnancy) | happiness; delight]] 喜)” and “lè ({be glad to; find pleasure in; enjoy} | {[being] happy; joyful; pleased; cheerful; glad} [→ [pleasure; enjoyment]] 乐 樂)” are stative verbs there. This seems to be a case of “xǐ (like; {be fond of} | {[being] happy; delighted; pleased} [→ [happy event (e.g. wedding; pregnancy) | happiness; delight]] 喜)” and “lè ({be glad to; find pleasure in; enjoy} | {[being] happy; joyful; pleased; cheerful; glad} [→ [pleasure; enjoyment]] 乐 樂)”, and thus also “xǐlè (xǐ·lè {being happy} · {being joyful} → [joy] 喜乐 喜樂)”, acting as verbal nouns, or gerundial nouns. These were discussed in the MEotW post on “jiàodǎo (jiào·dǎo teaching · {guiding [→ [instructing]]} 教导 教導)”:

One interesting thing to note about “jiàodǎo (jiào·dǎo teaching · {guiding [→ [instructing]]} 教导 教導)” (and about “jiàoxun (teaching → [reprimanding | knowledge gained from an error] 教训 教訓)”, for that matter) is that their component morphemes seem to basically be verbs. In certain contexts, however, they are used as nouns. An example of this being done in English is that “teach” and “teaching” are verbs (e.g. “Jesus was teaching the crowd.”), but in certain contexts, “teaching” is used as a noun (e.g. “The crowd was amazed at the teaching Jesus shared with them.”). When a word is used this way, it’s called a verbal noun, or a gerundial noun. Verbal nouns are quite common in Mandarin.

Multifaceted

“Xǐlè (Xǐ·lè {[being] happy} · {[being] joyful} → [joy | [is] joyful] 喜乐 喜樂)”, then, like many Mandarin words, is multifaceted. Sometimes it acts as an adjective, sometimes it’s a stative verb that seems like an adjective, and other times it functions as a noun. Here are examples of it being used in these different ways:

Used as an adjective:
📖 📄 📘 Tā (he 他) shì (is 是) ge ([mw] 个 個/个) hěn (very 很) xǐlè (xǐ·lè happy · joyful → [joyful] 喜乐 喜樂) de (’s 的) rén (person 人).

Used as a stative verb that seems like an adjective:
📖 📄 📘 Tā (he 他) hěn ({very much} 很) xǐlè (xǐ·lè {is happy} · {is joyful} → [is joyful] 喜乐 喜樂).

Used as a verbal noun:
📖 📄 📘 Tā (he 他) hěn ({very much} 很) yǒu (has 有) xǐlè (xǐ·lè {being happy} · {being joyful} → [joy] 喜乐 喜樂).

Categories
Current Events

yìqíng

yìqíng (yì·qíng epidemic · situation (used, e.g., to refer to the COVID-19 situation) 疫情) ← Tap/click to show/hide the “flashcard”

[Note: Tap/click on a Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) expression to reveal its “flashcard”, tap/click on a “flashcard” or its Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) expression to hide the “flashcard”.]

As of this writing, deep in the year 2021, the subject of the COVID-19 pandemic has been, to say the least, on people’s minds now for a while. So, it would be good to be able to refer to it in Mandarin when speaking to people in the Mandarin field, or when speaking to our brothers and sisters in the truth.

electron microscope image of SARS-CoV-2—also known as 2019-nCoV, the virus that causes COVID-19

An electron microscope image of SARS-CoV-2—also known as 2019-nCoV, the virus that causes COVID-19
Creative Commons Attribution License logo NIAID

This week’s MEotW, “yìqíng (yì·qíng epidemic · situation (used, e.g., to refer to the COVID-19 situation) 疫情)”, which literally means “epidemic situation”, is used to refer to the situation with the COVID-19 pandemic as a whole.

Examples

For example, to say something meaning “many are worried because of the pandemic” in Mandarin, we might say:

📖 📄 📘 “Hěn (very 很) duō (many 多) rén (people 人) dōu (even 都) yīnwei (yīn·wei {because of} · {on account of} 因为 因為) yìqíng (yì·qíng epidemic · situation (used, e.g., to refer to the COVID-19 situation) 疫情) ér (thus 而) dānxīn (dān·xīn {carry on a shoulder pole → [bear (a heavy)]} · heart → [worry] 担/耽心 擔/耽心).”

To ask in Mandarin, “Have you ever wondered how we can see a world with no more pandemics?”, we might say:

📖 📄 📘 “Nǐ (you 你) yǒu (have 有) méiyǒu (méi·yǒu not · have 没有 沒有) xiǎngguo (xiǎng·guo {thinking about} · passed → [thought about] 想过 想過), wǒmen (wǒ·men we · [pl] 我们 我們) zěnyàng (zěn·yàng what · {form → [way]} → [how] 怎样 怎樣) kěyǐ (kě·yǐ can · [suf] 可以) kàndào (kàn·dào see · {arriving at} 看到) yí (one 一) ge ([mw] 个 個/个) búzài (bú·zài not · anymore 不再) yǒu (having 有) yìqíng (yì·qíng epidemic · situations 疫情) de (’ 的) shìjiè (shì·jiè world · extent → [world] 世界)?”