Chinese vocabulary · 21 words
Chinese Words That Don’t Translate
The untranslatable words to learn first, each with pinyin, meaning and sound.
- 缘分yuánfènfate
- 面子miànziface
- 关系guānxìrelation
- 加油jiāyóucome on
- 客气kèqipolite
- 随便suíbiànwhatever (you like)
- 热闹rènaolively
- 心疼xīnténgto love dearly
- 孝顺xiàoshùnfilial
- 舍不得shěbudecan’t bear to (part with, spend, leave)
- 讲究jiǎngjiuto be particular about
- 凑合còuheto make do
- 折腾zhētengto toss and turn
- 吃苦chīkǔto bear hardships
- 辛苦xīnkǔhard
- 默契mòqìtacit understanding
- 人情rénqínghuman feelings
- 情怀qínghuáifeelings
- 上火shànghuǒ(Chinese medicine) to suffer from excess internal heat
- 内卷nèijuǎncutthroat, self-defeating competition where everyone works harder for no gain
- 躺平tǎngpíngto opt out of the rat race
What Chinese words have no English equivalent?
缘分 (yuánfèn, near enough “fate”), 面子 (miànzi, near enough “face”), 关系 (guānxì, near enough “relation”), 加油 (jiāyóu, near enough “come on”) and the others here: each has an English meaning but no one English word that says it.
What’s the best way to learn Chinese words by topic?
Hear each word and say it back, then keep the list and let Review bring the words back until they stick. They stick for good once you meet them in real stories and shows, which is what our free Library and extension are for.
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Pinyin and meanings from our own dictionary. Open a word for its characters and real sentences.