<p>While I totally understand where the OP is coming from, I have to point out that the &quot;similar situation&quot; you are looking for in Chinese is, in fact, not similar to what you have in the English &quot;qu&quot; situation.</p>
<p>The reason /q/ is always followed by /u/ in English is totally phonetic. It has to do with how the English language normally represents the sound /kw/, phonologically a velar stop followed by a labial glide.</p>
<p>What you are looking for in Chinese is semantic in nature. A Chinese character is essentially a semantic unit. As such, I can safely say that it's extremely rare to find that one specific character has to follow a certain given character. Even if you do find one that is ALWAYS followed by another in all the literature you can find today, there is no guarantee that in future some new usage will not be coined to allow the two characters to split and be attached to some other characters. Semantics is a forever changing and expanding realm, whereas phonology of a language is much, much more stable over the long term.</p>
<p>I think a more comparable situation to look for is where one letter (or set of letters) is always followed by another set in Pinyin, if your students are all Mandarin speakers fluent in Pinyin, or if they are all users of a standard transciption system of Chinese.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-07-07T05:16:24.600Z
2023-07-07T05:16:24.600Z
monalisa
<blockquote>
<p>Is there a character A which is universally (or nearly universally) followed by some other character B?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Almost all Chinese characters have multiple meanings, Only some archaic characters that have no independent usage in modern Chinese would exclusively pair with another character</p>
<p>Example:</p>
<p>黷 in <a href="http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/dictionary/words/60796/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">窮兵黷武</a> originally meant &quot;wantonly engage&quot;, but this character is not used independently in modern Chinese, the only place you can see it is in the idiom 窮兵黷武</p>
<p>Another possibility is a &quot;specifically coined characters&quot; like 麒麟. You cannot use 麒 or 麟 alone, it has to be 麒麟</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-07-06T22:02:52.807Z
2023-07-06T22:11:20.900Z
2023-07-06T22:11:20.900Z
Tang Ho
<p>i disagreed with other answers provided in this thread.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>柠檬 - 檬 almost always comes after 柠</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>incorrect</strong>, in the book 類篇 by 司馬光; it mentioned “吳俗謂木榫曰檸頭”, that, it’s the character “頭” comes after “檸”, further, “檸” does not mean lemon in this usage</p>
<blockquote>
<p>You cannot use 麒 or 麟 alone</p>
</blockquote>
<p>well, we can use “麒” or “麟” alone in one’s name  so, in 世宗憲皇帝硃批諭旨, by 清世宗</p>
<blockquote>
<p>南贛鎭標左營遊擊林麒・中營守備孫希爵・臣曾委監造礮位・見此二人歴練老成・辦事勤謹・且林麒熟悉水師・諳練營務・年紀微老・精神尚健等語</p>
</blockquote>
<p>in which “林麒” is a military personnel with a surname “林”, &amp; a given name “麒”; that it’s not followed by the character “麟”</p>
<blockquote>
<p>慷 is almost always followed by 慨</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>incorre</strong>, in the poem 短歌行 by 曹操, there’s verse</p>
<blockquote>
<p>慨當以慷・憂思難忘</p>
</blockquote>
<p>that, “慷” is followed by the character “憂”</p>
<p>back to the question</p>
<blockquote>
<p>in Chinese. Is there a character A which is universally (or nearly universally) followed by some other character B?</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>no</h2>
<p><strong>if</strong>, you exclude names, rhyme books, dictionaries, texts written in classical / literary chinese; you might get a “yes”. but, what chinese is it </p>
<blockquote>
<p>In English, when one encounters &quot;q&quot;, it is almost certain that the next letter will be a &quot;u&quot;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>btw, how do you interpret “qatar”, the country in middle east, in such context?</p>
<p>have fun :)</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-07-07T03:01:42.007Z
"Qatar" is not an English word. It is an Arabic word meaning "to save, economize" Have fun :)
Wayne Cheah
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-07-07T03:03:52.657Z
@水巷孑蠻 We can use qi in English to mean Chinese 气：中医指能使人体器官发挥机能的动力， but such words are borrowed and very few in number. In Latin, C, K and Q all sound like K, The Romans always wrote U after Q to make the sound KW: QUEEN (女王) = KWEEN, QUEST (寻求，探险) = KWEST. Spanish, very much influenced by Latin changed QU for CU: CUÁL (which)  = KWÁL, CUANDO (when) = KWANDO, but in Spanish, QU is just K: qué (what), spoken the same as K. 很有意思！
Pedroski
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-07-07T03:09:22.760Z
@WayneCheah, maybe the op needs to add a condition “excluding borrowed words” 
水巷孑蠻
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-07-07T03:19:34.327Z
@Pedroski, i see  what about words ends with “q”, like “iraq”,  “tranq”  strictly speaking, rien / no character followed the letter “q”  adding another condition? 
水巷孑蠻
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-07-07T04:41:15.943Z
OK, since "qatar" is a borrowed word in the English language, I can now say, "I used to qatar all my pocket money during school days"?  (borrowed your , hope you don't quibble, quarrel, query me, but do display your quick but qualitatively quaint wit putting op in a queer quandary?)
Wayne Cheah
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-07-07T04:52:26.437Z
@WayneCheah, “quick but qualitatively quaint wit”; wouldn’t it simpler & straightforward to say “lunatic”  
水巷孑蠻
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-07-07T05:01:21.463Z
Nah. In "lunatic" the "u" is not preceded by "q" Unless we borrow from Spanish and say "Qunatic?"
Wayne Cheah
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-07-07T20:31:30.927Z
As for 柠，慷 , etc. I am aware of these ancient usages, that's why I say **almost** always in my answer. This is even more true if we only consider modern Chinese.
dvx2718
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-07-07T23:08:39.587Z
“慷他人之慨” - to be generous with other people's property - is a modern usage that comes to mind. 慷慨 here is acting like a Verb-Object compound.
monalisa
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-07-08T00:54:59.437Z
Nothing in this answer contradicts anything in the question or the other answers. The fact that you can find rare instances of a character being used in a different way does not mean that the character is not _nearly universally_ used with a specific character – just like English words like _qi_, _qat_, _qadi_, _qintar_, etc., don’t mean that ⟨q⟩ isn’t _nearly always_ followed by ⟨u⟩. That is what ‘nearly’ means. And since you give a categorical **no** as your answer, what other use do you have of the character [ _biáng_](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/), besides in (麵)?
Janus Bahs Jacquet
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-07-08T01:15:17.127Z
@JanusBahsJacquet, relax, there’s a **if** following the **no** in my answer  read the exclusions, then, think about what kind of chinese language would it be 
水巷孑蠻
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-07-08T01:18:23.587Z
Well, the answer to that is that it would be normal modern Mandarin as it is spoken – which is what an answer _should_ be based on. And also  does not belong to any of those exclusions, it’s a perfectly normal (albeit uncommon) character in normal, everyday usage. Or it would be, if it weren’t so difficult to type.
Janus Bahs Jacquet
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-07-08T01:38:26.530Z
@JanusBahsJacquet, the culture & history of the chinese civilisation is recorded in traditional chinese, in proto / classical / literary chinese. there’re several thousands years of written records. now, if one want a “yes” answer of a particular question, and deliberately excluding these written records in proto / classical / literary chinese. isn’t it . . . **shameful**  without the past, what is the heritage of “normal modern Mandarin” 
水巷孑蠻
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-07-08T09:52:18.867Z
No, it’s not ‘shameful’. It’s called language evolution, and every language has it. Do you think the point about q nearly always being followed by u would be true if you took into account every form of English recorded over the past 1500 years? It wouldn’t. If I ask for the meaning and pronunciation of 字 in Chinese, valid and expected answers would include _zì_/‘character’ (Mandarin), _zi⁶_/‘five minutes’ (Cantonese) and _³zr_/‘word’ (Wu); but not _mədzəʔs_/‘love’.
Janus Bahs Jacquet
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-07-07T01:13:13.357Z
2023-07-07T01:13:13.357Z
水巷孑蠻
<p>There exists a type of words in Chinese we call 连绵词, aka those words with 2 characters, but they only make sense together, and you cannot explain each character individually. There are TONS of 连绵词 in Chinese, and basically all of them can be used as examples that you look for.</p>
<p>Some 连绵词's for example:</p>
<p>柠檬 - 檬 almost always comes after 柠, and 柠檬 means lemon, and you can't really explain the individual meaning of 柠 and 檬. If you had to, then 柠 means 柠檬, and 檬 means 柠檬 as well.</p>
<p>邋遢 - 遢 almost always comes after 邋, and 邋 is almost always followed by 遢.</p>
<p>慷慨 - 慨 almost always comes after 慷, and 慷 is almost always followed by 慨</p>
<p>Others includes 窈窕, 疙瘩, 螳螂, 蜘蛛, 嶙峋, 徜徉, etc...</p>
<p>Note that not all 连绵词 satisfy this property. There are 连绵词 where one or both characters have a meaning on its own, like 仓皇, where 仓 means storage and 皇 is emperor, but only when these character come together does the word &quot;仓皇&quot; mean &quot;rushed&quot;. Clearly &quot;rushed&quot; has nothing to do with the original meanings of the two characters, so it's considered a 连绵词, but it would be wrong to say &quot;皇 is almost always following 仓, and 仓 is almost always followed by 皇&quot;.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-07-06T22:46:57.840Z
2023-07-06T22:46:57.840Z
dvx2718
<p>In English, when one encounters &quot;q&quot;, it is almost certain that the next letter will be a &quot;u&quot;.</p>
<p>I am looking for a similar situation in Chinese. Is there a character A which is universally (or nearly universally) followed by some other character B?</p>
<p>This question might be of limited linguistic interest, so let me give the context: I'm teaching a course on information theory where questions like this show up (think: effective text compression, for example).  Most of the students are Chinese so I think it would be fun to include a Chinese example.  My preference is for a well-known example where anyone with basic Chinese will be able to produce B when presented with A.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-07-06T20:53:26.767Z
https://www.reddit.com/r/ChineseLanguage/comments/3p240c/list_of_bisyllabic_morphemes_in_chinese/
dROOOze
<characters>
Characters with only one possible next character
# Characters with only one possible next character

(Asked by: username_0 on 2023-07-06)

In English, when one encounters "q", it is almost certain that the next letter will be a "u".

I am looking for a similar situation in Chinese. Is there a character A which is universally (or nearly universally) followed by some other character B?

This question might be of limited linguistic interest, so let me give the context: I'm teaching a course on information theory where questions like this show up (think: effective text compression, for example). Most of the students are Chinese so I think it would be fun to include a Chinese example. My preference is for a well-known example where anyone with basic Chinese will be able to produce B when presented with A.

**Tags:** characters

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: https://www.reddit.com/r/ChineseLanguage/comments/3p240c/list_of_bisyllabic_morphemes_in_chinese/  

---

## 4 answers

### Answer by username_7 on 2023-07-06. Score: 7 | Accepted answer

There exists a type of words in Chinese we call 连绵词, aka those words with 2 characters, but they only make sense together, and you cannot explain each character individually. There are TONS of 连绵词 in Chinese, and basically all of them can be used as examples that you look for.

Some 连绵词's for example:

柠檬 - 檬 almost always comes after 柠, and 柠檬 means lemon, and you can't really explain the individual meaning of 柠 and 檬. If you had to, then 柠 means 柠檬, and 檬 means 柠檬 as well.

邋遢 - 遢 almost always comes after 邋, and 邋 is almost always followed by 遢.

慷慨 - 慨 almost always comes after 慷, and 慷 is almost always followed by 慨

Others includes 窈窕, 疙瘩, 螳螂, 蜘蛛, 嶙峋, 徜徉, etc...

Note that not all 连绵词 satisfy this property. There are 连绵词 where one or both characters have a meaning on its own, like 仓皇, where 仓 means storage and 皇 is emperor, but only when these character come together does the word "仓皇" mean "rushed". Clearly "rushed" has nothing to do with the original meanings of the two characters, so it's considered a 连绵词, but it would be wrong to say "皇 is almost always following 仓, and 仓 is almost always followed by 皇".


---

### Answer by username_2 on 2023-07-07. Score: 6

While I totally understand where the OP is coming from, I have to point out that the "similar situation" you are looking for in Chinese is, in fact, not similar to what you have in the English "qu" situation.

The reason /q/ is always followed by /u/ in English is totally phonetic. It has to do with how the English language normally represents the sound /kw/, phonologically a velar stop followed by a labial glide.

What you are looking for in Chinese is semantic in nature. A Chinese character is essentially a semantic unit. As such, I can safely say that it's extremely rare to find that one specific character has to follow a certain given character. Even if you do find one that is ALWAYS followed by another in all the literature you can find today, there is no guarantee that in future some new usage will not be coined to allow the two characters to split and be attached to some other characters. Semantics is a forever changing and expanding realm, whereas phonology of a language is much, much more stable over the long term.

I think a more comparable situation to look for is where one letter (or set of letters) is always followed by another set in Pinyin, if your students are all Mandarin speakers fluent in Pinyin, or if they are all users of a standard transciption system of Chinese.


---

### Answer by username_3 on 2023-07-06. Score: 2

> Is there a character A which is universally (or nearly universally) followed by some other character B?

Almost all Chinese characters have multiple meanings, Only some archaic characters that have no independent usage in modern Chinese would exclusively pair with another character

Example:

黷 in [窮兵黷武](http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/dictionary/words/60796/) originally meant "wantonly engage", but this character is not used independently in modern Chinese, the only place you can see it is in the idiom 窮兵黷武

Another possibility is a "specifically coined characters" like 麒麟. You cannot use 麒 or 麟 alone, it has to be 麒麟


---

### Answer by username_4 on 2023-07-07. Score: -1

i disagreed with other answers provided in this thread.

> 柠檬 - 檬 almost always comes after 柠

**incorrect**, in the book 類篇 by 司馬光; it mentioned “吳俗謂木榫曰檸頭”, that, it’s the character “頭” comes after “檸”, further, “檸” does not mean lemon in this usage

> You cannot use 麒 or 麟 alone

well, we can use “麒” or “麟” alone in one’s name so, in 世宗憲皇帝硃批諭旨, by 清世宗

> 南贛鎭標左營遊擊林麒・中營守備孫希爵・臣曾委監造礮位・見此二人歴練老成・辦事勤謹・且林麒熟悉水師・諳練營務・年紀微老・精神尚健等語

in which “林麒” is a military personnel with a surname “林”, & a given name “麒”; that it’s not followed by the character “麟”

> 慷 is almost always followed by 慨

**incorre**, in the poem 短歌行 by 曹操, there’s verse

> 慨當以慷・憂思難忘

that, “慷” is followed by the character “憂”

back to the question

> in Chinese. Is there a character A which is universally (or nearly universally) followed by some other character B?

## no

**if**, you exclude names, rhyme books, dictionaries, texts written in classical / literary chinese; you might get a “yes”. but, what chinese is it

> In English, when one encounters "q", it is almost certain that the next letter will be a "u"

btw, how do you interpret “qatar”, the country in middle east, in such context?

have fun :)

> **Comments:**
> **username_5**: "Qatar" is not an English word. It is an Arabic word meaning "to save, economize" Have fun :)  
> **username_6**: @username_4 We can use qi in English to mean Chinese 气：中医指能使人体器官发挥机能的动力， but such words are borrowed and very few in number. In Latin, C, K and Q all sound like K, The Romans always wrote U after Q to make the sound KW: QUEEN (女王) = KWEEN, QUEST (寻求，探险) = KWEST. Spanish, very much influenced by Latin changed QU for CU: CUÁL (which)  = KWÁL, CUANDO (when) = KWANDO, but in Spanish, QU is just K: qué (what), spoken the same as K. 很有意思！  
> **username_4**: @username_5, maybe the op needs to add a condition “excluding borrowed words”   
> **username_4**: @username_6, i see  what about words ends with “q”, like “iraq”,  “tranq”  strictly speaking, rien / no character followed the letter “q”  adding another condition?   
> **username_5**: OK, since "qatar" is a borrowed word in the English language, I can now say, "I used to qatar all my pocket money during school days"?  (borrowed your , hope you don't quibble, quarrel, query me, but do display your quick but qualitatively quaint wit putting op in a queer quandary?)  
> **username_4**: @username_5, “quick but qualitatively quaint wit”; wouldn’t it simpler & straightforward to say “lunatic”    
> **username_5**: Nah. In "lunatic" the "u" is not preceded by "q" Unless we borrow from Spanish and say "Qunatic?"  
> **username_7**: As for 柠，慷 , etc. I am aware of these ancient usages, that's why I say **almost** always in my answer. This is even more true if we only consider modern Chinese.  
> **username_2**: “慷他人之慨” - to be generous with other people's property - is a modern usage that comes to mind. 慷慨 here is acting like a Verb-Object compound.  
> **username_8**: Nothing in this answer contradicts anything in the question or the other answers. The fact that you can find rare instances of a character being used in a different way does not mean that the character is not _nearly universally_ used with a specific character – just like English words like _qi_, _qat_, _qadi_, _qintar_, etc., don’t mean that ⟨q⟩ isn’t _nearly always_ followed by ⟨u⟩. That is what ‘nearly’ means. And since you give a categorical **no** as your answer, what other use do you have of the character [ _biáng_](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/), besides in (麵)?  
> **username_4**: @username_8, relax, there’s a **if** following the **no** in my answer  read the exclusions, then, think about what kind of chinese language would it be   
> **username_8**: Well, the answer to that is that it would be normal modern Mandarin as it is spoken – which is what an answer _should_ be based on. And also  does not belong to any of those exclusions, it’s a perfectly normal (albeit uncommon) character in normal, everyday usage. Or it would be, if it weren’t so difficult to type.  
> **username_4**: @username_8, the culture & history of the chinese civilisation is recorded in traditional chinese, in proto / classical / literary chinese. there’re several thousands years of written records. now, if one want a “yes” answer of a particular question, and deliberately excluding these written records in proto / classical / literary chinese. isn’t it . . . **shameful**  without the past, what is the heritage of “normal modern Mandarin”   
> **username_8**: No, it’s not ‘shameful’. It’s called language evolution, and every language has it. Do you think the point about q nearly always being followed by u would be true if you took into account every form of English recorded over the past 1500 years? It wouldn’t. If I ask for the meaning and pronunciation of 字 in Chinese, valid and expected answers would include _zì_/‘character’ (Mandarin), _zi⁶_/‘five minutes’ (Cantonese) and _³zr_/‘word’ (Wu); but not _mədzəʔs_/‘love’.  

---

