<p>Such usage of &quot;贵&quot;(noble) with nouns is restrictive as @r13 suggested, and is often related to some formal/business scenario.
there's no such expression as &quot;贵杯&quot;, if you mean to be respectful, simply use “您”, e.g. &quot;您的杯子&quot;, this will work in most of the cases (at least not wrong). The usage of &quot;贵&quot; may be more elegant, but inappropriate usage sounds embarrassing and weird (which is &quot;弄巧成拙&quot;)</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-03-16T20:08:52.743Z
2023-03-16T20:08:52.743Z
sicheng mao
<p>貴 is a morpheme when it means &quot;expensive&quot;. However, it can be used with other morphemes/words to form words that express respect, such as &quot;贵姓&quot;、&quot;贵国&quot;、&quot;贵宝地&quot; or &quot;貴人&quot;</p>
<ul>
<li><p>贵姓 - Respectably your name?</p>
</li>
<li><p>贵国 - Respectably where are you from?</p>
</li>
<li><p>贵宝地 - Respectably your place.</p>
</li>
<li><p>貴人 - a noble person, or lucky man (我的貴人 - my lucky man).</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p>Sorry, no such word as &quot;貴杯&quot;.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-03-16T17:30:41.877Z
2023-03-17T09:02:35.713Z
2023-03-17T09:02:35.713Z
r13
<p>Is 貴 a productive morpheme in Mandarin, or is it only used in fixed expressions that one should just learn?</p>
<p>Like, can I say «貴杯» for «your cup», or is that not allowed.</p>

<word-choice><morphology>
Is 貴 (your) a productive morpheme?
# Is 貴 (your) a productive morpheme?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2023-03-16)

Is 貴 a productive morpheme in Mandarin, or is it only used in fixed expressions that one should just learn?

Like, can I say «貴杯» for «your cup», or is that not allowed.

**Tags:** word-choice, morphology


---

## 2 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2023-03-16. Score: 1 | Accepted answer

Such usage of "贵"(noble) with nouns is restrictive as @username_2 suggested, and is often related to some formal/business scenario.
there's no such expression as "贵杯", if you mean to be respectful, simply use “您”, e.g. "您的杯子", this will work in most of the cases (at least not wrong). The usage of "贵" may be more elegant, but inappropriate usage sounds embarrassing and weird (which is "弄巧成拙")


---

### Answer by username_2 on 2023-03-16. Score: 1

貴 is a morpheme when it means "expensive". However, it can be used with other morphemes/words to form words that express respect, such as "贵姓"、"贵国"、"贵宝地" or "貴人"

* 贵姓 - Respectably your name?
* 贵国 - Respectably where are you from?
* 贵宝地 - Respectably your place.
* 貴人 - a noble person, or lucky man (我的貴人 - my lucky man).

Sorry, no such word as "貴杯".


---

