Chinese homophones

Why does Chinese have so many homophones?

Mandarin has about 400 syllables, or about 1,300 counting tones, for thousands of characters, so many characters share a sound: in HSK 1–4 alone, shì is 5 different characters (事 是 市 试 室). Words of two characters rarely clash, which is one reason most Chinese words have two.

How do you tell Chinese homophones apart?

By the words around them and by the characters. 医生 (doctor) and 一生 (a lifetime) sound the same, but no sentence leaves you wondering which one it means. Reading is where they separate: each has its own characters.

What are lucky and unlucky Chinese homophones?

鱼 (yú) and 余 (yú): fish sounds like “surplus”, so fish is served at New Year: 年年有余, a surplus every year. 到 (dào) and 倒 (dào): 福 is hung upside down (倒) because “福倒了” sounds like “福到了”, luck has arrived. 钟 (zhōng) and 终 (zhōng): a clock sounds like “the end”, so 送钟 (giving a clock) sounds like 送终, attending a death: never a gift. 梨 (lí) and 离 (lí): a pear sounds like “to part”, so a pear isn’t split between friends or couples. 四 (sì) and 死 (sǐ): four is close to “death”, one tone apart, so many buildings skip a 4th floor. 八 (bā) and 发 (fā): eight rhymes with “to get rich” (发财), which is why 8 is the lucky number.

Hear the difference

• Pinyin minimal pairs
• Tone pairs
• Tone practice