<p>First, for the example you have given, besides 讲、奖 and 蒋 I don't think most people will think of any other characters than these when they hear the word jiǎng spoken by itself.</p>

<p>A lot of the other characters you have listed there are either somewhat uncommon or are just a prefix/suffix for other words. </p>

<p>It's somewhat like it someone just said the word 'which' to you in English without any context - maybe you will know it's 'which' but how can you be sure it's not 'witch'? Or 'for' - how can you know, just by hearing it seperate from other things, if it is, actually, 'for' or 'four'? (Or even 'fore' for that matter!)</p>

<p>It is impossible to know for sure without some context.</p>

<p>Even the three characters I listed for jiǎng just now have very, specific, different meanings:</p>

<p>讲 = speak, talk 
奖 = reward, award
蒋 = the surname jiǎng</p>

<p>Even just from hearing jiǎng by itself you can make an educated guess at what the speaker is trying to say.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-07-14T14:34:12.543Z
2014-07-14T14:52:41.940Z
2014-07-14T14:52:41.940Z
Mou某
<p>In oral Chinese, it is rarely to use only one character/syllable (almost all of the characters are also single-syllable words) to carry a specific meaning as a word. </p>

<p>For example, the syllable "jiǎng" will be used with other character like "jiǎng + huà" (講話; speaking) or "dé + jiǎng" (得獎, receiving an award). </p>

<p>In addition, not every meanings of a syllable are commonly used. For the example of "jiǎng", actually only about three meanings are commonly used in everyday speech.</p>

<p>Why Chinese have this large amount of single syllable words? There is a theory suggests that the Chinese language, compared to alphabetical systems, is restrained by its own writing system that cannot freely constructs its spelling but have to use one character to represent one syllable.</p>

<p>I am a native Chinese speaker so I'm not sure about the difficulties for the non-native speakers. But I think a word (which may combined by several characters) will be easier than a single character for learning and remembering.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-07-14T14:44:01.880Z
This may be a separate question, but if "jiang" is considered a syllable, and "jiang hua" and "de jiang" are the completed words, why does pinyin insert spaces there? Why not "jianghua" and "dejiang"?
Jack M
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-07-14T14:47:18.390Z
Actually pinyin don't insert spaces in these words, the spaces was inserted by me for explanation. Moreover, "jiang" is not just a syllable, it also can be used as a full-meaning word.
Peterlee
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-07-14T14:41:56.833Z
2014-07-15T08:03:36.370Z
2014-07-15T08:03:36.370Z
Peterlee
<p>I'm learning a little Chinese out of curiosity, and I have a basic question about the language as a whole, rather than a specific technical question about a particular word or character. Sorry if this is too broad.</p>

<p>I just want to learn a little spoken Chinese, not the writing system, so I've been seeking out pinyin texts. Let's say I come across a word such as <em>jiǎng</em> that I don't know. I look it up <a href="http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ji%C7%8Eng" rel="noreferrer">on Wiktionary</a>, and get something like:</p>

<pre><code>jiǎng (Zhuyin ㄐㄧㄤˇ)

Pinyin reading of 堿
Pinyin reading of 桨, 槳
Pinyin reading of 滰
Pinyin reading of 獎
Pinyin reading of 繈
Pinyin reading of 繣
Pinyin reading of 膙
Pinyin reading of 蒋, 蔣
Pinyin reading of 襁
Pinyin reading of 講, 讲
Pinyin reading of 顜
</code></pre>

<p>Each of those characters seem to have totally different meanings: paddle, salty, reward... so my question is: how do the Chinese manage to communicate orally? Specifically, let's say one Chinese speaker says something to another. If there are 10 different definitions associated with each sound the first person makes, then how can the second person work out what's being said? Am I misunderstanding something, or is it simply that you have to work out which definition is being used from context?</p>

<p>To use a very specific example, what if a Chinese speaker said <em>jiǎng</em> to me? I mean what if they actually formed the sound <em>jee-yah-ng</em> - how could I tell what they meant?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-07-14T14:15:55.833Z
To some extend, you should consider the "context". Maybe not a proper analogy -- how English speakers understand only a single syllable? For English, more syllables play a role of the "context", just as more Chinese characters being spoken to make the sequence of sounds understandable.
Stan
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-07-14T14:21:39.137Z
@Stan Are you saying that the word is not the basic unit of meaning in Chinese? That a Chinese word is more like an english syllable - meaningless unless it's surrounded by others?
Jack M
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-07-14T15:06:39.220Z
@JackM When you say "Chinese word" what you mean are *characters* and yes, Chinese words consist of one or more characters similar to how English words consist of one or more syllables. That's where the similarities end though. In English syllables and characters have no meaning, only sound while Chinese characters and even the radicals they consist of have meaning and carry sound.
Roman Reiner
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-07-14T15:47:18.040Z
@JackM It was interesting, you used the phrase "basic unit". One Chinese character contains information of both "the meaning set" and "the pronunciation set". The *basic unit of meaning* is the elements of the meaning set of one character. However, `jiǎng` in the post is just a pronunciation, it can map to many possible meanings. Just like English, without more "context", you can't decide whether /nəʊ/ means "no" or "know".
Stan
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-07-14T17:46:54.173Z
Your title is wrong, I think. What you're actually asking is, "Why does Chinese have so many homophones?"
200_success
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-07-14T17:58:35.100Z
@JackM If someone says jiǎng to you without any context, of cause you won't know what the speaker means. Just like in English, if someone says "pee-s" you don't know if it is piece or peace. Just think about how you work out "pee-s" in English, then apply the same idea to Chinese. Note that Chinese sentences heavily rely on context for the info you need to understand the meaning of the sentences. E.g 我去看电影。 This sentence is just a generic statement and it has no tense at all. Its tense could be in the past, at present, or in the future. So the tense has to be drawn form the context.
孤影萍踪
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-07-14T18:15:51.273Z
@孤影萍踪 I suppose what bothers me is that in English, first of all there are really only a few words with multiple definitions, but also among those, each word has at most two or three definitions. In Chinese it seems that every word I look up has 10 or more definitions.
Jack M
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-07-14T19:22:01.400Z
@JackM Chinese characters are NOT words. You look up a character in a dictionary, there will be quite a few meanings for character, but most of those meanings are restricted for certain words containing this character. Pinyin (like IPA) just shows how to pronounce characters. Pinyin itself is not words. So jiǎng is not a word. If you want to learn Chinese well, you will have to learn characters. Pinyin is for pronunciation and we use characters to "spell out" Chinese sentences. Just like in English, /meɪn/ is for pronunciation, but main or mane are for spelling.
孤影萍踪
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-07-14T19:39:45.213Z
@JackM In order to learn Chinese well, you will have to learn characters, but you DON'T have to learn pinyin, just like if you want to learn English, you will have to learn the words like "main" or "mane", but you don't have to learn their IPA /meɪn/. Pinyin was created 60+ years ago, and before then (and now still in Taiwan) Chinese people used Bopomofo (ㄅ ㄆ ㄇ ㄈ ㄉ and a lot others) as phonetic notation for spoken Chinese. So Pinyin is replaceable, but characters are not. Characters are the core of written Chinese.
孤影萍踪
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-07-15T00:54:45.243Z
Hmm I think you're thinking about this the wrong way. One pronunciation does not equal one word. It is one pronunciation. In English there are also: multiple pronunciations for the same spelled word, and multiple meanings for the same pronounced word. Think of wind/wind/wined, there/they're/their, our/hour, fore/four, tear/tear/tier, hear/here ... that's just off the top of my head. There are **so** many others that rely on context for us to understand. Same with Chinese, and probably any language.
Ming
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-02-27T05:46:06.443Z
It is now 6 years 7 months later, how is your spoken Chinese coming along? Still think  "jiang" is considered a syllable?"
Wayne Cheah
<pinyin><spoken>
Why so many definitions associated with each word?
# Why so many definitions associated with each word?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2014-07-14)

I'm learning a little Chinese out of curiosity, and I have a basic question about the language as a whole, rather than a specific technical question about a particular word or character. Sorry if this is too broad.

I just want to learn a little spoken Chinese, not the writing system, so I've been seeking out pinyin texts. Let's say I come across a word such as *jiǎng* that I don't know. I look it up [on Wiktionary](http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ji%C7%8Eng), and get something like:

```
jiǎng (Zhuyin ㄐㄧㄤˇ)

Pinyin reading of 堿
Pinyin reading of 桨, 槳
Pinyin reading of 滰
Pinyin reading of 獎
Pinyin reading of 繈
Pinyin reading of 繣
Pinyin reading of 膙
Pinyin reading of 蒋, 蔣
Pinyin reading of 襁
Pinyin reading of 講, 讲
Pinyin reading of 顜

```

Each of those characters seem to have totally different meanings: paddle, salty, reward... so my question is: how do the Chinese manage to communicate orally? Specifically, let's say one Chinese speaker says something to another. If there are 10 different definitions associated with each sound the first person makes, then how can the second person work out what's being said? Am I misunderstanding something, or is it simply that you have to work out which definition is being used from context?

To use a very specific example, what if a Chinese speaker said *jiǎng* to me? I mean what if they actually formed the sound *jee-yah-ng* - how could I tell what they meant?

**Tags:** pinyin, spoken

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: To some extend, you should consider the "context". Maybe not a proper analogy -- how English speakers understand only a single syllable? For English, more syllables play a role of the "context", just as more Chinese characters being spoken to make the sequence of sounds understandable.  
> **username_0**: @username_1 Are you saying that the word is not the basic unit of meaning in Chinese? That a Chinese word is more like an english syllable - meaningless unless it's surrounded by others?  
> **username_2**: @username_0 When you say "Chinese word" what you mean are *characters* and yes, Chinese words consist of one or more characters similar to how English words consist of one or more syllables. That's where the similarities end though. In English syllables and characters have no meaning, only sound while Chinese characters and even the radicals they consist of have meaning and carry sound.  
> **username_1**: @username_0 It was interesting, you used the phrase "basic unit". One Chinese character contains information of both "the meaning set" and "the pronunciation set". The *basic unit of meaning* is the elements of the meaning set of one character. However, `jiǎng` in the post is just a pronunciation, it can map to many possible meanings. Just like English, without more "context", you can't decide whether /nəʊ/ means "no" or "know".  
> **username_3**: Your title is wrong, I think. What you're actually asking is, "Why does Chinese have so many homophones?"  
> **username_4**: @username_0 If someone says jiǎng to you without any context, of cause you won't know what the speaker means. Just like in English, if someone says "pee-s" you don't know if it is piece or peace. Just think about how you work out "pee-s" in English, then apply the same idea to Chinese. Note that Chinese sentences heavily rely on context for the info you need to understand the meaning of the sentences. E.g 我去看电影。 This sentence is just a generic statement and it has no tense at all. Its tense could be in the past, at present, or in the future. So the tense has to be drawn form the context.  
> **username_0**: @username_4 I suppose what bothers me is that in English, first of all there are really only a few words with multiple definitions, but also among those, each word has at most two or three definitions. In Chinese it seems that every word I look up has 10 or more definitions.  
> **username_4**: @username_0 Chinese characters are NOT words. You look up a character in a dictionary, there will be quite a few meanings for character, but most of those meanings are restricted for certain words containing this character. Pinyin (like IPA) just shows how to pronounce characters. Pinyin itself is not words. So jiǎng is not a word. If you want to learn Chinese well, you will have to learn characters. Pinyin is for pronunciation and we use characters to "spell out" Chinese sentences. Just like in English, /meɪn/ is for pronunciation, but main or mane are for spelling.  
> **username_4**: @username_0 In order to learn Chinese well, you will have to learn characters, but you DON'T have to learn pinyin, just like if you want to learn English, you will have to learn the words like "main" or "mane", but you don't have to learn their IPA /meɪn/. Pinyin was created 60+ years ago, and before then (and now still in Taiwan) Chinese people used Bopomofo (ㄅ ㄆ ㄇ ㄈ ㄉ and a lot others) as phonetic notation for spoken Chinese. So Pinyin is replaceable, but characters are not. Characters are the core of written Chinese.  
> **username_5**: Hmm I think you're thinking about this the wrong way. One pronunciation does not equal one word. It is one pronunciation. In English there are also: multiple pronunciations for the same spelled word, and multiple meanings for the same pronounced word. Think of wind/wind/wined, there/they're/their, our/hour, fore/four, tear/tear/tier, hear/here ... that's just off the top of my head. There are **so** many others that rely on context for us to understand. Same with Chinese, and probably any language.  
> **username_6**: It is now 6 years 7 months later, how is your spoken Chinese coming along? Still think  "jiang" is considered a syllable?"  

---

## 2 answers

### Answer by username_7 on 2014-07-14. Score: 2

First, for the example you have given, besides 讲、奖 and 蒋 I don't think most people will think of any other characters than these when they hear the word jiǎng spoken by itself.

A lot of the other characters you have listed there are either somewhat uncommon or are just a prefix/suffix for other words.

It's somewhat like it someone just said the word 'which' to you in English without any context - maybe you will know it's 'which' but how can you be sure it's not 'witch'? Or 'for' - how can you know, just by hearing it seperate from other things, if it is, actually, 'for' or 'four'? (Or even 'fore' for that matter!)

It is impossible to know for sure without some context.

Even the three characters I listed for jiǎng just now have very, specific, different meanings:

讲 = speak, talk
奖 = reward, award
蒋 = the surname jiǎng

Even just from hearing jiǎng by itself you can make an educated guess at what the speaker is trying to say.


---

### Answer by username_8 on 2014-07-14. Score: 1

In oral Chinese, it is rarely to use only one character/syllable (almost all of the characters are also single-syllable words) to carry a specific meaning as a word.

For example, the syllable "jiǎng" will be used with other character like "jiǎng + huà" (講話; speaking) or "dé + jiǎng" (得獎, receiving an award).

In addition, not every meanings of a syllable are commonly used. For the example of "jiǎng", actually only about three meanings are commonly used in everyday speech.

Why Chinese have this large amount of single syllable words? There is a theory suggests that the Chinese language, compared to alphabetical systems, is restrained by its own writing system that cannot freely constructs its spelling but have to use one character to represent one syllable.

I am a native Chinese speaker so I'm not sure about the difficulties for the non-native speakers. But I think a word (which may combined by several characters) will be easier than a single character for learning and remembering.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: This may be a separate question, but if "jiang" is considered a syllable, and "jiang hua" and "de jiang" are the completed words, why does pinyin insert spaces there? Why not "jianghua" and "dejiang"?  
> **username_8**: Actually pinyin don't insert spaces in these words, the spaces was inserted by me for explanation. Moreover, "jiang" is not just a syllable, it also can be used as a full-meaning word.  

---

