The sixth edition of Contemporary Chinese Dictionary, the most widely used Chinese dictionary in the world and seen as the authoritative Chinese language dictionary, was published by the Commercial Press on July 15.

There are 13,000 character entries and about 69,000 entries in total in the new edition. More than 600 character entries, about 3,000 new words and expressions, and 400 new explanations are newly added, said Jiang Lansheng, the former Vice-president of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences who lead the revisions of the dictionary.

The new words and expressions come from different fields

In the economic field, there are such new expressions, idiomatic phrases and idioms as: chanyelian (industrial chain), huanbi (compared with the last same statistical period), fu zichan (negative asset), diyi tong jin (first bucket of gold, the first big sum of money a successful enterpriser earns), minying qiye (private firms), fei gongyouzhi jingji (non-public-ownership sector), wenhua chanye (cultural industry).

In the field of social management, there are yiliao baoxian (medical insurance), yigai (medical system reform), mindiao (poll), shouwenzhi (first asked responsibility system), tiaofeng (variably load), xianxing (traffic restrictions based on the last digit on a license plate), yaohao (lottory number of purchasing vehicles), tiaojie shui (regulatory tax), and so on.

In the field of daily life, there are chanquan zheng (property right certtificate), fangdai (mortgage), shoufu (down payment), qunzu (group-oriented leasing), ershoufang (second-hand house), lianzufang (low rent housing), liangxianfang (apartment with double limitations) dongche (bullet train), pingbimen (platform screen door), gaotie (CRH, China Railway High-speed), guidao jiaotong (urban rail traffic), chedai (car loan), chexian (automobile insurance), daijia (designated driver after you drink), jiujia (drunk driving), zuijia (drunken driving), and so on.

Some of them show the new life styles, such as pinche (carpooling), pin’gou (shopping sharing), tuangou (group purchase), wanggou (online shopping), wangliao (net chat), shoushen (slimming), sushen (body shaping), chaxu (tea gathering), zijiayou (self-driving tour), zizhuyou (DIY travel), beibaoke (backpacker).

Others are related with IT and Internet, such as bōke (podcast), boke (blog), bowen (blog article), gentie (follow-up comment), chaomeiti (hypermedia), dianzi shu (e-book), dianzi zhengwu (e-government), neilianwang (Intranet), wulianwang (Internet of things), wangping (net comment), wangyin (Internet addiction), weibo (microblog), yunjisuan (cloud computing).

The new words, expressions and meanings added show the new changes and trends

The new words and expressions are authentic records of the new changes and trends of the social life in China today, said Madame Jiang.

Such new expressions as fuqin jie (Fathers’ Day), muqin jie (Mothers’ Day), gan’en jie (Thanksgiving Day) and qingren jie (Valentine’s Day) are included, which shows the exchanges between Chinese and western cultures.

The entries such as yangchadui (rush to study, live and work abroad), luodi qiandzheng (visa on arrival), shengen xieding (Schengen Agreement) show more and more Chinese people can go abroad.

The expressions, ditan (low carbon), jianhao (to reduce consumption of energy), jianpai (emmision reduction), jiantan (carbon reduction), xin nengyuan (new energy), guangfo xiaoying (photovoltaic effect), dianzi wuran (electronic pollution), ershou yan (second-hand smoke) reflect Chinese people’s sense of environmental protection becomes stronger.

Some expressions, such as beipiao (northen straying, those who live and work in Beijing without residence, hukou), caogen (stylish people), shegong (social work), daren (expert), gaoguan (high-rank exectutive), fenqing (young cynic), mingzui (famous host), xiangjiaoren (American Born Chinese), xiao huangdi (little emperor), yizu (ant tribe), yueguangzu (moonlite, the moniker for people who always spend all their salaries or earnings before the end of the month. The first Chinese character in the term means “month” or “moon”, and the second “leaving nothing behind” or “light”), quanzhi taitai (full-time wife), show some new social groups come into existence and what are their characteristics.

Others, such as shanhun (flash marriage), shanli (flash divoice), shihun (trial marriage), reflect the great shock to Chinese traditional outlook on marriage.

Baijinzhuyi (money worship), bang dakuan (to lean on a moneybag), maiguan (buy an officer position), tanfu (corruption), pengci (find fault with sb.), chi huikou (kickback), qianguize (underlying rules), fengkoufei (hush money), guanxiwang (relaitionship network), leng baoli (cold violence), bawang tiaokuan (despot clause), and so on, show the negative impacts of market economy on the conducts and values in the society.

Some English abbreviations frequently used in the press are also included in the new edition, such as GDP, CPI, PPI, PM2.5，ETC, ECFA, FTA, NBA . There are some loan words and terms, such as:

Sai (share), boke (blog), weibo (microblog), dingke (DINK), fensi (fan), jia’nianhua (Carnival), sangna (Sauna), shebin (shaping), sinuoke (Snooker), tuokouxiu (talk show) , and so on, are from English;

Cishen (sashimi), dingshi (deiso, set manus), shousi (sushi), tianfuluo (tempura), tatami (tatami), tongqin (commute), shudu (sudoku), zhaijisong (home delivery) , and so on, from Japanese;

Bagua (gossip), gaodian (or gaoding, fix, handle, take care of), gouzeidui (paparazzo), wulitou (funky), shouxin (hand signal), yincha (drink tea along with refreshments) from Hong Kong and Guangdong;

Ruanti (software), yingti (hardware), wanglu (network), shuwei (digital), taikongren (astronaut), youfu (UFO), jieyun (subway), qiangsheng (provoke), liting (in support of), qiu (embarrassing), chuqiu (make a fool of oneself), baipiao (bow for votes), xiepiao (thank for votes), zhantai (show and support), etc. from Taiwan.

The report is based on a report in Chinese in Xinhuanet

Chinese link: http://news.xinhuanet.com/2012-07/15/c_112440614.htm

Translated by Liang Guangyan