Laowai Chinese 老外中文

My First Chinese Palindrome

2008 August 30 – 11:37 am | Categories: Fun| Leave a comment

(Thanks to Lulu for this one)

I don’t know if it’s true, but I’ve heard that:

Shànghǎi zìláishuǐ láizì hǎi shàng

(Shanghai’s tap water comes from on top of the sea)

I’m all in favor of fun little word games and/or tongue twisters as a way of learning new vocabulary (tap water), practicing pronunciation, and earning the undying respect and admiration of friends. Well, at least I know it works for vocabulary and pronunciation.

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9 Responses to “My First Chinese Palindrome”
Julia said:

喜欢这个:

扁担长，板凳宽。
板凳没有扁担长，
扁担没有板凳宽。
扁担要绑在板凳上，
板凳偏不让扁担绑在板凳上。

S.H.E. has even a song for it.

Comment date: Sep 4, 2008
Billy said:

上水居民居水上，長洲賓客賓洲長。

大圍三姑三圍大。

昆明擺檔擺明昆。

大院高曾高院大。

Comment date: Sep 12, 2008
Albert said:

Billy,

Could you give us the translations (and pinyin) for those? They look interesting but I’m afraid I can’t decode them.

Comment date: Sep 12, 2008
John said:

I’m a new learner (8 months studying Chinese in an American university), and I was so fascinated by the idea of a Chinese palindrome that I asked some of my own informants about them as soon as I found this post. I was only able to come up with one other, but I think it’s a good one:

山冻落花生花落东山。
Shāndōng luò huā shēng huā luò dōngshān.
In Shandong (province) the luohuasheng (kind of peanut) flower falls on the eastern mountain.

Comment date: Sep 30, 2008
Elia Diodati said:

There’s quite a collection on Wikipedia:

http://zh.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=回文

Comment date: Oct 15, 2008
Bamboo said:

大院高僧高院大。

da1 yuan 4 gao1 seng1 gao1 yuan4 da1,,

Comment date: Feb 27, 2009
Albert said:

Bamboo,

Could we have an approximate or literal English translation?

Comment date: Feb 28, 2009
Adam Gong said:

I’m a native chinese,
but honestly, even i can’t decode them.coz they don’t really make any sense.
大圍三姑三圍大。
昆明擺檔擺明昆。
大院高曾高院大。

if u hv to translate it into English, guess it would be:

大圍三姑三圍大
LITERALLY:
大圍:plumy,plus-size(woman),”围”means a closed circle or circumference
三姑：means ur third oldest aunt, or “meddling women”
三围:means women’s size, bust/waist/hips
plumy/plus-size woman
PINYIN:
da4 wei2 san1 gu1 san1 wei2 da4
INTERPRETATION:
“plumpy auntie has big breasts”
or
“aunt from Dawei(大围could be a place)is plumpy”

昆明擺檔擺明昆
LITERALLY:
昆明：capital of Yunnan province
摆档：a booth or a very small store
the 2nd摆：verb.,means set up (a booth), or lay out(goods)
明昆：guess it’s somewhere coincidently called Mingkun.
PINYIN:
kun1 ming2 bai3 dang4 bai3 ming2 kun1
INTERPRETATION:
“Kunming booth be set up in Mingkun”

大院高曾高院大
LITERALLY:
大院：means bid courtyard
高曾(actually”僧”, means monk)：means a senior monk, or hierarch. here”高” means senior or high class

intead of “height/tall”.
the 2nd高：means the high or tall (height of the fences/walls/trees/moutains etc. or humen body)
PINYIN:
da4 yuan4 gao1 seng1 yuan4 gao1 da4
曾pronounces as ceng2
INTERPRETATION:
“that hierarch live in the courtyard, his yard has tall fences and is big”.

by the way,
扁担长，板凳宽。
板凳没有扁担长，
扁担没有板凳宽。
扁担要绑在板凳上，
板凳偏不让扁担绑在板凳上。
these are tongue twisters, not palindromes.

Comment date: Apr 11, 2010
Adam Gong said:

sorry,some edit errors
大院高曾高院大
LITERALLY:
大院：means big courtyard
高曾(曾actually is”僧”,means monk)：means a senior monk, or hierarch. here”高”(adj.) means senior or high class intead of “height(noun.)/tall(adj.)”.
the 2nd高：(adj.)means high or tall (height of the fences/walls/trees/moutains etc. or humen body)

Comment date: Apr 11, 2010