At times this phenomenon can lead to a flailing misunderstanding of Chinese because one didn't hear the tones correctly, but incorrectly mentally forced the sans-tone spelling of syllables onto a previously known expression whose sans-tone spelling is the same.
The Pleco Chinese dictionary app, with its Wild search capability, could find more such possibilities, but these came easily to my mind when I recently realized that I needed to do more character practice (and so was born this blog entry).
I'll probably add to this list over time when I recall or encounter more. Arranged in Pinyin order:
- 姑丈 (gūzhàng) husband of one's father's sister; uncle
- 鼓掌 (gǔzhǎng) applaud (by clapping hands)
- 故障 (gùzhàng) malfunction; out of order
- 機油 (jīyóu) engine oil
- 集郵 (jíyóu) to collect stamps; stamp collecting
- 焦糖 (jiāotáng) caramel
- 教堂 (jiàotáng) church
- 砍樹 (kǎnshù) to cut down trees
- 看書 (kànshū) to read a book
- 騎馬 (qímǎ) to ride a horse
- 起碼 (qǐmǎ) at least (as an adverb) Due to tone sandhi, this expression is pronounced qímǎ (the same as the other expression in this pair). So when I heard this for the first time, I didn't actually hear the tones incorrectly, and thus had slightly more reason to think that the speaker was talking about riding a horse, even if I couldn't figure out how that made sense in the conversation....
- 如意 (rúyì) as one wishes or would wish
- 乳液 (rǔyì; also rǔyè, but I have heard only the former) skin lotion ("milk-like liquid or emulsion")
- 彈琴 (tánqín) to play piano
- 探親 (tànqīn) to visit relatives
- 吸管 (xīguǎn) drinking straw
- 習慣 (xíguàn) habit
- 先進 (xiānjìn) advanced
- 現金 (xiànjīn) cash
- 豬腳 (zhūjiǎo) pig's feet
- 主角 (zhǔjiǎo) main character/role (in a drama, etc.) Due to tone sandhi, this expression is pronounced zhújiǎo
Quasi-similar:
Chinese character pairings having matching Pinyin letters but different tones
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