Chinese words borrowed from other languages

[wangll08]

There are some words in Chinese borrowed from other languages, we call them “外来词, wailai ci, borrowed words”. Take for example the word Sha Fa. This is a Chinese transliteration of the word sofa. However, the characters used to depict this idea have nothing to do with either furniture or relaxing. Instead the characters used represent sand and hair, which have absolutely nothing in common with the idea and associations of the word Sofa beyond the fact that they are simply convenient to use because they most closely mimic the sound. Here are more we use often, I hope you can find it easy to remember them in your way.


阿司匹林 ā sī pǐ lín aspirin
芭蕾 bā lěi ballet
比基尼 bǐ jī ní bikini
白兰地 bái lán dì brandy
巴士 bā shì bus
拜拜 bài bài bye-bye
咖啡 kā fēi coffe (café)
克隆 kè lóng clone
酷 kù cool
卡通 kǎ tōng cartoon
香槟 xiāng bīn Champagne
巧克力 qiǎo kè lì chocolate
雪茄 xuě jiā cigare
柠檬 níng méng lemon
迪斯科 dī sī kē disco
法西斯 fǎ xī sī fascism
高尔夫 gāo ěr fū golf
吉他 jí tā guitar
贝司吉他 bèi sī jí tā bass guitar
汉堡包 hàn bǎo bāo hamburger
荷尔蒙 hé ‘ě méng hormone
幽默 yōu mò humour
歇斯底里 xiē sī dǐ lǐ hysteria (hystérie)
夹克 jiā kè jacket
卡拉OK kǎ lā OK karaoke
考拉 kǎo lā koala
逻辑 luó ji logic
马拉松 mǎ lā sōng marathon
麦克风 mài kè fēng microphone
模特 mó tè model
摩登 mó dēng modern
木乃伊 mù nǎi yī mummy
摩托 mó tuó moto
尼古丁 ní gǔ dīng nicotine
尼龙 ní lóng nylon
奥林匹克 ào lín pǐ kè olympic
乒乓 pīng pāng ping-pong
披萨 pī sà pizza
扑克 pū kè poker
布丁 bù dīng pudding
雷达 léi dá radar
朗母酒 lǎng mǔ rhum
伦巴 lún bā Rumba
沙拉 shā là salad
沙龙 shā lóng salon
三明治 sān míng zhì sandwich
爱滋 ài zī AIDS
沙发 shā fā sofa
探戈 tàn gē Tango
坦克 tǎn kè tank
托福 tuō fú TOEFL
伏特加 fú té jiā vodka
威士忌 wēi shì jì whisky

To know more about Chinese characters, please visit this blog: http://blog.chinesehour.com