r/ChineseLanguage • u/snowdrop65 • 2d ago

Vocabulary ...What?

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I simply Require an explanation for this. Five hundred... rice?

0 Upvotes

15% Upvoted

13 comments sorted by

21

u/PokemonLv10 2d ago

You're gonna find that Chinese words can mean different things depending on context and what it's used with

11

u/Looking4Nebraska 2d ago

It's a phonetic adaptation of meters.

10

u/cungsyu 2d ago

米 is used for metres because “mǐ” sounds like the first syllable of “metre”.

12

u/LeChatParle 高级 2d ago

Get yourself a dictionary. Pleco is the best, and it would have helped you here

1

u/snowdrop65 2d ago

Thanks! Will do.

5

u/BlackRaptor62 2d ago

五百米 = 五百米突, but `米突` is less common now, it is abbreviated to just 米

2

u/cjk-lookup 2d ago

米突

Language Pronunciation
Mandarin (Pinyin) mǐtū
Mandarin (Wade-Giles) mi3 t'u1
Mandarin (Yale) mi3 tu1
Mandarin (Zhuyin) ㄇㄧˇ　ㄊㄨ
Cantonese mai5 dat6

Meanings:

  • meter (unit of length) (loanword) (old)

Information from MDBG • CC-Canto • Yellowbridge • Youdao • ZDIC

5

u/niggchu Native 2d ago

米 and 公尺 also can mean meter.

3

u/AsideApprehensive590 2d ago

Chinese didn't invent any new characters for units of measure, so they just reused existing ones and gave them second meaning

1

u/interpolating 2d ago

that's a lotta rice man

2

u/PomegranateV2 2d ago

Rice is good for when you want to eat like 500 of something.

1

u/interpolating 2d ago

never thought of it that way thank you

1

u/snowdrop65 2d ago

Thank you, everyone! 🥰🥰