# Loan words/ near cognates/ transliterations, or whatever **URL:** \ **Category:** Learning Chinese\ **Created:** [December 23, 2007, 11:38am UTC](https://tw.forumosa.com/t/loan-words-near-cognates-transliterations-or-whatever/42189 "2007-12-23T11:38:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![bob](https://forumosa-12829.kxcdn.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/ea666f/32.png) [@bob](https://tw.forumosa.com/u/bob)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 12:11pm UTC](https://tw.forumosa.com/t/loan-words-near-cognates-transliterations-or-whatever/42189/61 "2008-06-26T12:11:32Z")
> [@skeptic\_yank](#): > > fascist= fa3 xi1 si1 Nice. Been added. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![skeptic\_yank](https://forumosa-12829.kxcdn.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@skeptic\_yank](https://tw.forumosa.com/u/skeptic_yank)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2008, 12:23am UTC](https://tw.forumosa.com/t/loan-words-near-cognates-transliterations-or-whatever/42189/62 "2008-06-27T00:23:19Z")
greenwich mean time= ge2 lin2 ni2 zhi4 shi2 jian1 ---
**Author:** ![Chris](https://forumosa-12829.kxcdn.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/958977/32.png) [@Chris](https://tw.forumosa.com/u/Chris)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2008, 12:21pm UTC](https://tw.forumosa.com/t/loan-words-near-cognates-transliterations-or-whatever/42189/63 "2008-07-03T12:21:14Z")
False cognates: book - bu4 簿 bowl - bo1 缽 knead - nie1 捏 ---
**Author:** ![Chris](https://forumosa-12829.kxcdn.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/958977/32.png) [@Chris](https://tw.forumosa.com/u/Chris)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2008, 1:19pm UTC](https://tw.forumosa.com/t/loan-words-near-cognates-transliterations-or-whatever/42189/64 "2008-07-03T13:19:38Z")
And check this out: 酪 (luo = fermented milk), which in Taiwanese is lok, and in Old Chinese was lak - compare to “lactic”; “milk”. This has seriously been posited to be an Indo-European loanword in Chinese. ---
**Author:** ![sjcma](https://forumosa-12829.kxcdn.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/22d042/32.png) [@sjcma](https://tw.forumosa.com/u/sjcma)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2008, 1:58pm UTC](https://tw.forumosa.com/t/loan-words-near-cognates-transliterations-or-whatever/42189/65 "2008-07-03T13:58:03Z")
砲 pao4 (cannon), as in a cannon goes ‘pow’ 坦克車 tan3ke4che1 (tank) 引擎 yin3qing2 (engine) 馬達 ma3da2 (motor) 嗨 hi4 (hi) 拜拜 bai4bai5 (bye-bye) 爸爸 ba4ba5 (pa pa) 媽媽 ma1ma5 (ma ma) 陰陽 yin1yang2 (yin yang) 屎 shi3 (feces), just a letter shy of ‘shit’ 福特 Fu2te4 (Ford) 伏特 fu2te4 (volt) 安培 an1pei2 (ampere) 高斯 gao1si1 (gauss) ---
**Author:** ![Chris](https://forumosa-12829.kxcdn.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/958977/32.png) [@Chris](https://tw.forumosa.com/u/Chris)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2008, 2:44pm UTC](https://tw.forumosa.com/t/loan-words-near-cognates-transliterations-or-whatever/42189/66 "2008-07-03T14:44:03Z")
maid - 妹 mei4 (little sister, young girl) ---
**Author:** ![tianzi](https://forumosa-12829.kxcdn.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/c2a13f/32.png) [@tianzi](https://tw.forumosa.com/u/tianzi)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2008, 12:02am UTC](https://tw.forumosa.com/t/loan-words-near-cognates-transliterations-or-whatever/42189/67 "2008-07-04T00:02:38Z")
A list of words that in one way or another worked their way through Chinese before entering the English language: [oook.info/easia/etymchinese.html](http://oook.info/easia/etymchinese.html) ---
**Author:** ![the\_bear](https://forumosa-12829.kxcdn.com/user_avatar/tw.forumosa.com/the_bear/32/192391_2.png) [@the\_bear](https://tw.forumosa.com/u/the_bear)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2008, 2:45am UTC](https://tw.forumosa.com/t/loan-words-near-cognates-transliterations-or-whatever/42189/68 "2008-07-04T02:45:19Z")
> [@Chris](#): > > maid - 妹 mei4 (little sister, young girl) i’ll need evidence on this…just cause a word shares an initial consonant doesnt make it a loan word. mei-mei has existed in chinese for 1000’s of years i think you’ll find. ---
**Author:** ![Chris](https://forumosa-12829.kxcdn.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/958977/32.png) [@Chris](https://tw.forumosa.com/u/Chris)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2008, 2:48am UTC](https://tw.forumosa.com/t/loan-words-near-cognates-transliterations-or-whatever/42189/69 "2008-07-04T02:48:50Z")
> [@the\_bear](#): > > > [@Chris](#): > > > > maid - 妹 mei4 (little sister, young girl) > > I’ll need evidence on this…just cause a word shares an initial consonant doesnt make it a loan word. mei-mei has existed in Chinese for 1000’s of years I think you’ll find. I never claimed it was a cognate or a loanword. This fits into the category of “false cognates”, and as such is one of the things being compiled via this thread. ---
**Author:** ![sjcma](https://forumosa-12829.kxcdn.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/22d042/32.png) [@sjcma](https://tw.forumosa.com/u/sjcma)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2008, 2:54am UTC](https://tw.forumosa.com/t/loan-words-near-cognates-transliterations-or-whatever/42189/70 "2008-07-04T02:54:50Z")
> [@the\_bear](#): > > > [@Chris](#): > > > > maid - 妹 mei4 (little sister, young girl) > > I’ll need evidence on this…just cause a word shares an initial consonant doesnt make it a loan word. mei-mei has existed in Chinese for 1000’s of years I think you’ll find. I think you’ll find that many of the entries in here fall under the “whatever” category in the title of this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Chris](https://forumosa-12829.kxcdn.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/958977/32.png) [@Chris](https://tw.forumosa.com/u/Chris)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2008, 4:14am UTC](https://tw.forumosa.com/t/loan-words-near-cognates-transliterations-or-whatever/42189/71 "2008-07-04T04:14:18Z")
犬 quan3 “dog” - chien (French for “dog”) Or is that stretching it? ---
**Author:** ![sjcma](https://forumosa-12829.kxcdn.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/22d042/32.png) [@sjcma](https://tw.forumosa.com/u/sjcma)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2008, 2:50am UTC](https://tw.forumosa.com/t/loan-words-near-cognates-transliterations-or-whatever/42189/72 "2008-07-05T02:50:14Z")
> [@Chris](#): > > 犬 quan3 “dog” - chien (French for “dog”) > > Or is that stretching it? I guess if you pronounce ‘chien’ in English, then it’s kinda close. ‘Chien’ pronounced in French is closer to ‘xian4’. ---
**Author:** ![Chris](https://forumosa-12829.kxcdn.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/958977/32.png) [@Chris](https://tw.forumosa.com/u/Chris)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2008, 1:59pm UTC](https://tw.forumosa.com/t/loan-words-near-cognates-transliterations-or-whatever/42189/73 "2008-07-06T13:59:17Z")
馬 ma3 “horse” - mare ---
**Author:** ![the\_bear](https://forumosa-12829.kxcdn.com/user_avatar/tw.forumosa.com/the_bear/32/192391_2.png) [@the\_bear](https://tw.forumosa.com/u/the_bear)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2008, 2:27pm UTC](https://tw.forumosa.com/t/loan-words-near-cognates-transliterations-or-whatever/42189/74 "2008-07-06T14:27:05Z")
> [@sjcma](#): > > > [@the\_bear](#): > > > > > [@Chris](#): > > > > > > maid - 妹 mei4 (little sister, young girl) > > > > I’ll need evidence on this…just cause a word shares an initial consonant doesnt make it a loan word. mei-mei has existed in Chinese for 1000’s of years I think you’ll find. > > I think you’ll find that many of the entries in here fall under the “whatever” category in the title of this thread. so whats the point of a list of false cognates? am i missing something or is this an exercise in futility? ni hao and how are you? so what? ---
**Author:** ![Chris](https://forumosa-12829.kxcdn.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/958977/32.png) [@Chris](https://tw.forumosa.com/u/Chris)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2008, 2:32pm UTC](https://tw.forumosa.com/t/loan-words-near-cognates-transliterations-or-whatever/42189/75 "2008-07-06T14:32:21Z")
It’s what the OP wanted. Plus there is some usefulness: they can be mnemonic devices for learning, and may be of interest to linguists for various reasons. Who knows? Many seemingly useless or futile compilations of data have proven useful much later. ---
**Author:** ![sjcma](https://forumosa-12829.kxcdn.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/22d042/32.png) [@sjcma](https://tw.forumosa.com/u/sjcma)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2008, 7:16pm UTC](https://tw.forumosa.com/t/loan-words-near-cognates-transliterations-or-whatever/42189/76 "2008-07-06T19:16:22Z")
ta3 塔 = tower ---
**Author:** ![skeptic\_yank](https://forumosa-12829.kxcdn.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@skeptic\_yank](https://tw.forumosa.com/u/skeptic_yank)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2008, 11:28pm UTC](https://tw.forumosa.com/t/loan-words-near-cognates-transliterations-or-whatever/42189/77 "2008-07-06T23:28:24Z")
icing on someone else’s cake: maid…maiden (young, virginal woman)…mei mei (younger sister). back in chinese 101 we had to do the old family picture exercise. i told them my big sister’s name was J.J. little sister’s name was “may” but we call her “may may” big bros name was gregor lil bros name was D.D. mom was mama and dad was “bubba” ---
**Author:** ![sjcma](https://forumosa-12829.kxcdn.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/22d042/32.png) [@sjcma](https://tw.forumosa.com/u/sjcma)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2008, 5:30am UTC](https://tw.forumosa.com/t/loan-words-near-cognates-transliterations-or-whatever/42189/78 "2008-07-07T05:30:24Z")
fei2 肥 =\> fat pang4 胖 (fat) = pounds dou4fu 豆腐 =\> tofu ---
**Author:** ![Chris](https://forumosa-12829.kxcdn.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/958977/32.png) [@Chris](https://tw.forumosa.com/u/Chris)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2008, 6:41am UTC](https://tw.forumosa.com/t/loan-words-near-cognates-transliterations-or-whatever/42189/79 "2008-07-07T06:41:46Z")
堡 bao3 - burg (both words mean “fort” or “castle”). Then there’s Arabic “burj” - “tower”. Perhaps all come from the same ancient root? Cross-language borrowings in ancient times (Chinese from Tocharian, Arabic from Greek)? Also note 保 “to protect” - perhaps etymologically related to 堡. ---
**Author:** ![tianzi](https://forumosa-12829.kxcdn.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/c2a13f/32.png) [@tianzi](https://tw.forumosa.com/u/tianzi)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2008, 3:34pm UTC](https://tw.forumosa.com/t/loan-words-near-cognates-transliterations-or-whatever/42189/80 "2008-07-07T15:34:10Z")
> [@Chris](#): > > 犬 quan3 “dog” - chien (French for “dog”) > > Or is that stretching it? I think 犬 (Chinese), Chien (French), Canine (English), Canus (Latin), Kutta (Hindi), qen (albanian), shown (arminian) all trace back to śvāna(Sanskrit) and ku (tocharian) [Previous page](https://tw.forumosa.com/t/loan-words-near-cognates-transliterations-or-whatever/42189.md?page=3) [Next page](https://tw.forumosa.com/t/loan-words-near-cognates-transliterations-or-whatever/42189.md?page=5)