<p>Dialect characters (方言字) exhibit great variation in the way they are written. The same character can have different meanings and even wildly different pronunciations between different varieties of Chinese, as they are not constricted by the regular developments from Middle Chinese. Even characters taken for granted in Standard Mandarin exhibit variation (e.g. 走、嘛).</p>

<p>Hence characters for dialect characters are often established and legitimised by lexicographers in dialect dictionaries, whereas those in common use are often subject to lack of standardisation and even of recognition.</p>

<p>So I looked up Yin Shichao (尹世超)'s 《哈尔滨方言词典》 <em>Harbin Dialect Dictionary</em>, published in late 1997. On page 317 there is the following entry:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>[錛兒頭] pər˦ t’ou˨˦ = [錛兒娄(頭)] pər˨˦ lou(t’ou˨˦) 前突的前額 || 錛，也作奔，另見 pən˥˧</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Of course, other characters are used: the one represented by the breakdown "十日九不见，入山见大虫" seems to interpreted to several different lexemes: the one above for forehead, and another referring to wolves, and another for stupidity. All of the expressions, to my southern ear, sound particularly northern and dialectal.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-04-17T13:48:09.460Z
2015-04-17T13:48:09.460Z
Michaelyus
<p>A long time ago a Northeastern friend of mine showed me how to write ‘ber lou’ using 汉字.</p>

<p>‘ber lou’ being the northeastern equivalent of 额头.</p>

<p>I have since forgotten how ‘ber lou’ was indeed written.</p>

<ul>
<li>How is the Chinese Northeastern word for 额头: ‘ber lou’ written in 汉字?</li>
</ul>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-04-16T03:50:19.607Z
I think it is 锛儿楼,or  I am pretty sure your friend was making a joke. I'm living in Northeastern ,there are just no such characters.
sfy
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-05-17T04:15:32.530Z
shouldn't it be 脖儿娄? [link]http://www.zsbeike.com/hy/20324282.html
Tzu
<writing>
How To *Write* The Northeastern ‘ber lou’?
# How To *Write* The Northeastern ‘ber lou’?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2015-04-15)

A long time ago a Northeastern friend of mine showed me how to write ‘ber lou’ using 汉字.

‘ber lou’ being the northeastern equivalent of 额头.

I have since forgotten how ‘ber lou’ was indeed written.

* How is the Chinese Northeastern word for 额头: ‘ber lou’ written in 汉字?

**Tags:** writing

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: I think it is 锛儿楼,or  I am pretty sure your friend was making a joke. I'm living in Northeastern ,there are just no such characters.  
> **username_2**: shouldn't it be 脖儿娄? [link]http://www.zsbeike.com/hy/20324282.html  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_3 on 2015-04-17. Score: 7

Dialect characters (方言字) exhibit great variation in the way they are written. The same character can have different meanings and even wildly different pronunciations between different varieties of Chinese, as they are not constricted by the regular developments from Middle Chinese. Even characters taken for granted in Standard Mandarin exhibit variation (e.g. 走、嘛).

Hence characters for dialect characters are often established and legitimised by lexicographers in dialect dictionaries, whereas those in common use are often subject to lack of standardisation and even of recognition.

So I looked up Yin Shichao (尹世超)'s 《哈尔滨方言词典》 *Harbin Dialect Dictionary*, published in late 1997. On page 317 there is the following entry:

> [錛兒頭] pər˦ t’ou˨˦ = [錛兒娄(頭)] pər˨˦ lou(t’ou˨˦) 前突的前額 || 錛，也作奔，另見 pən˥˧

Of course, other characters are used: the one represented by the breakdown "十日九不见，入山见大虫" seems to interpreted to several different lexemes: the one above for forehead, and another referring to wolves, and another for stupidity. All of the expressions, to my southern ear, sound particularly northern and dialectal.


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