<p>On American Dictionary:</p>
<p><strong>Lunatic (Noun)</strong> - 1. An insane person. 2. A reckless impetuous irresponsible person.</p>
<p>On Chinese Dictionary:</p>
<p><strong>Lunatic (n.)</strong> - 疯子</p>
<p>Google is not completely wrong, only it couldn't guess which &quot;lunatic&quot; you were meant to say.</p>
<p><strong>ADD:</strong></p>
<p><strong>&quot;以/因為...而&quot;</strong> is a form of sentence that involves &quot;for reason ... (以/因為...) something is... (而...)&quot;, similar to the &quot;cause...effect&quot; pattern in English.</p>
<p>Here, &quot;He is known&quot; (而) is the effect of the cause - &quot;for being a lunatic&quot; (以/因為). Note that the sequence of sentence arrangement of Chinese and English is usually in reverse of each other.</p>

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2022-02-20T01:16:15.683Z
Thanks for your response! 疯子 sounds right to me, but I am not sure about the purpose of 以...而 here.
RiversAndGuqins
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-02-20T07:54:59.837Z
Thank you, the addition helped a lot! :)
RiversAndGuqins
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-02-20T00:55:41.147Z
2022-02-20T02:34:48.407Z
2022-02-20T02:34:48.407Z
r13
<p>I doubt if “以……而闻名” is a calque (loan translation) expression……</p>
<p>If I'm expressing, I would say “大家都知道他是个疯子”.</p>

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2022-02-20T12:39:03.523Z
2022-02-20T12:39:03.523Z
user30951
<p>他以疯子而闻名 = &quot;He is known for being a lunatic.&quot;?</p>
<p>The question mark above is because I want to know what do you mean, in English, by &quot;...being a lunatic&quot;</p>
<p>Do you mean:-</p>
<p>(1) clinical madness; i.e. suffering from a pathological disease of the brain; or,</p>
<p>(2) just odd, erratic, unconventional, socially unacceptable behavior, i.e. an &quot;oddball&quot;</p>
<p>I suspect you meant (2) because you say, &quot;...being a lunatic&quot;, not actually a lunatic, but merely being one, or rather behave like one. A person don't become known or famous just for being a lunatic, (that is clinically mad), but rather behave like one.</p>
<p>So, certain people, especially in the entertainment business, are &quot;known&quot; or famous for behaving &quot;like&quot; a lunatic, not because they are clinically mad, but because they behave like one in order to entertain. It's the &quot;behavior&quot; that makes the person famous / known, not for &quot;being clinically mad&quot; per se.</p>
<p>If I guess right, that is, &quot;...behave like a lunatic&quot; and not clinically mad, then 疯子 could be used, but with the addition of 的行为, &quot;behavior&quot;, (i.e. 他以疯子的行为而闻名) It may or may not be necessary to add &quot;behavior&quot; in the English version of the sentence, but in the Chinese one it is better stylistically.</p>
<p>Also, it makes clear the idea that it is the person's &quot;lunatic behavior&quot; that's material here, and not his &quot;lunacy&quot; per se.</p>
<p>If, however, you actually meant &quot;clinical lunacy / pathological madness / mental disorder&quot;, then they are of course specific Chinese words for that. In this case, it is rather strange that a person could become &quot;known&quot; just &quot;...for being a lunatic&quot;</p>
<p>Even the late famous artist Vincent van Gogh is famous not merely because he was suffering from a mental illness per se, but because of his paintings done while suffering as such.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-02-20T09:37:12.857Z
2022-02-20T09:37:12.857Z
Wayne Cheah
<p>I want to say in Chinese &quot;He is known for being a lunatic.&quot;</p>
<p>I asked Google, and it translated the sentence to &quot;他以疯子而闻名.&quot; I tried to understand how Google arrives at this translation, but I can't figure it out. Is there a grammar rule I am missing here? Is the translation accurate?</p>

<translation><grammar>
What grammatical structure is this? 他以疯子而闻名。
# What grammatical structure is this? 他以疯子而闻名。

(Asked by: username_0 on 2022-02-20)

I want to say in Chinese "He is known for being a lunatic."

I asked Google, and it translated the sentence to "他以疯子而闻名." I tried to understand how Google arrives at this translation, but I can't figure it out. Is there a grammar rule I am missing here? Is the translation accurate?

**Tags:** translation, grammar


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## 3 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2022-02-20. Score: 0 | Accepted answer

On American Dictionary:

**Lunatic (Noun)** - 1. An insane person. 2. A reckless impetuous irresponsible person.

On Chinese Dictionary:

**Lunatic (n.)** - 疯子

Google is not completely wrong, only it couldn't guess which "lunatic" you were meant to say.

**ADD:**

**"以/因為...而"** is a form of sentence that involves "for reason ... (以/因為...) something is... (而...)", similar to the "cause...effect" pattern in English.

Here, "He is known" (而) is the effect of the cause - "for being a lunatic" (以/因為). Note that the sequence of sentence arrangement of Chinese and English is usually in reverse of each other.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Thanks for your response! 疯子 sounds right to me, but I am not sure about the purpose of 以...而 here.  
> **username_0**: Thank you, the addition helped a lot! :)  

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### Answer by username_2 on 2022-02-20. Score: 1

I doubt if “以……而闻名” is a calque (loan translation) expression……

If I'm expressing, I would say “大家都知道他是个疯子”.


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### Answer by username_3 on 2022-02-20. Score: 0

他以疯子而闻名 = "He is known for being a lunatic."?

The question mark above is because I want to know what do you mean, in English, by "...being a lunatic"

Do you mean:-

(1) clinical madness; i.e. suffering from a pathological disease of the brain; or,

(2) just odd, erratic, unconventional, socially unacceptable behavior, i.e. an "oddball"

I suspect you meant (2) because you say, "...being a lunatic", not actually a lunatic, but merely being one, or rather behave like one. A person don't become known or famous just for being a lunatic, (that is clinically mad), but rather behave like one.

So, certain people, especially in the entertainment business, are "known" or famous for behaving "like" a lunatic, not because they are clinically mad, but because they behave like one in order to entertain. It's the "behavior" that makes the person famous / known, not for "being clinically mad" per se.

If I guess right, that is, "...behave like a lunatic" and not clinically mad, then 疯子 could be used, but with the addition of 的行为, "behavior", (i.e. 他以疯子的行为而闻名) It may or may not be necessary to add "behavior" in the English version of the sentence, but in the Chinese one it is better stylistically.

Also, it makes clear the idea that it is the person's "lunatic behavior" that's material here, and not his "lunacy" per se.

If, however, you actually meant "clinical lunacy / pathological madness / mental disorder", then they are of course specific Chinese words for that. In this case, it is rather strange that a person could become "known" just "...for being a lunatic"

Even the late famous artist Vincent van Gogh is famous not merely because he was suffering from a mental illness per se, but because of his paintings done while suffering as such.


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