Locky's English Playground: 21 Apr 2010

Wednesday, 21 April 2010

Vocabulary: Chinese Names with English Meanings

Have you ever wondered that learning English vocabulary can be easy? How easy? You may be carrying one of them with you all the time, printed on your ID card. What I mean is, from your own surname! Believe it or not, some Chinese surnames do have actual meanings.

I have selected a few more common ones, some are Cantonese and others Mandarin. If you happen to have more updates, let me know! I will add them in.

Bong (n) [C]

a musical noise made especially by a large clock

Boon (n) [C usually singular]

something that is very helpful and improves the quality of life
Boon companion

[C usually singular literary] a very close friend

Chin (n) [C]

the part of a person's face below their mouth

Chow (n) [U old-fashioned Slang]

food; something to eat

gung-ho (adj informal)

extremely enthusiastic about doing something, especially going to war

heigh-ho (exclamation)

used to express the fact that you cannot change a situation so you must accept it

ho-hum

(exclamation) an expression used when someone is bored, or when they accept that something unpleasant cannot be stopped from happening
(adj) boring or ordinary

Ching (n)

ching / ka-ching

(exclamation) used for talking about large amounts of money and wanting a lot of money

Lam (n)

on the lam [US]

to be escaping, especially from the police

Law (n)

go to law

When someone goes to law about something, they ask a court to decide if it was done legally.

Lee (n)

[S] the side of hill, wall, etc. that provides shelter from the wind
the lees

the substance which is left at the bottom of a container of liquid, especially in a bottle of wine

(exclamation, old use) look
lo and behold (humorous)

something that you say when you tell someone about something surprising that happened

Loo (n) [C]

UK informal toilet

Ma (n)

(informal, old-fashioned) a mother
(mainly) US a title for an old woman

Ping (vb) [I]

to make a short sharp sound
(message) to send an email or text message
US for "pink" (= an engine noise)

Pun (vb [I], n [C])

to make a pun
a humorous use of a word or phrase which has several meanings (eg. jerk) or which sounds like another word (eg: red / read) .

Sham

(vb [I] or [T] disapproving) to pretend
[C usually singular disapproving] something which is not what it seems to be and is intended to deceive people, or someone who pretends to be something they are not

Sin

(vb) [I] to break a religious or moral law

Tang (n) [S]

a strong sharp taste or smell

Tong

Tongs (plural n) a device used for picking up objects, consisting of two long pieces joined at one end and pressed together at the other end in order to hold an object between them

Photo from FoodUtensils.com

Wan (adj literary)

(of a person's face) more pale than usual and tired-looking

Woo (vb [T])

to try to persuade someone to support you or to use your business
(old-fashioned) If a man woos a woman, he gives her a lot of attention in an attempt to persuade her to marry him

Yam (n, [C] or [U])