In our penultimate section we’re going to have a look at English words borrowed from Chinese that all relate to Chinese culture. Kung Fu Everybody was kung-fu fighting…! Now, everyone should already be familiar with this word, especially anyone who is a fan of Jackie Chan films! It comes from the Mandarin 功夫 (gōngfū). Tai Chi Following on from kung fu we have tai chi, another form of martial arts it comes from the Mandarin 太极拳 tàijíquán. The name is simply the Wade-Giles romanization of the original Chinese, however the 拳 quán is omitted in the English name. Chi Next, we have another chi, but this is different to the chi in tai chi. This comes from the Mandarin 气 qì which in this context means “vital energy” and is an important part of traditional Chinese medicine. Again, this is the Wade-Giles romanization of the word, which you’ll see is quite common for many English words borrowed from Chinese. Yin Yang Introducing another very famous Chinese concept. Yin yang is taken directly from the Mandarin 阴阳 yīnyáng. In Taoist philosophy yin and yang represent two balancing forces in the universe. It can literally be translated to “dark and light”. Feng Shui You’re probably already familiar with the traditional Chinese practice of feng shui which is simply taken from the Mandarin 风水 fēngshuǐ. This literally means “wind and water” which refers to the need to balance the energies within an environment. Kowtow This comes from the Mandarin 叩头 (kòutóu) which literally means “knock head”. The act of kotowing is to kneel and bow your head so that it touches the floor, historically this was the highest sign of reverence and would be used to show respect to superiors, especially the Emperor of China. However, in modern day English the words has taken on the meaning to show too much respect or obedience to someone. |
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