If I asked you to think about words that had the character dragon in them in Chinese, you’d probably think of words like a dragon boat, a dragon fruit, and you’d be purrfectly right. But today, we’re here to talk about unusual dragon words. Words in Chinese you’ll be surprised to learn there’s a dragon in! So without further ado, here are unexpected words that contain the character dragon in

The following Chinese words, quite surprisingly, all have dragons in them. Which ones did you expect the least?

Dragon in Chinese phrase #1: Faucet

水龙头

shuǐ lóng tóu

faucet

literally: a  water dragon head

The name for faucet in Chinese is cool. It’s composed of:

水 shuǐ water
龙 lóng dragon
头 tóu head

What’s a Water-Dragon-head? Why, a “faucet” or a “tap”, of course! A little underwhelming, perhaps? Wait till you see this.

Sigh, if only all our faucets could look as dragonny as this one. Source

That’s why 水龙头 is our first word with a dragon in it!

Dragon word in Chinese #2: Boss

龙头

lóng tóu

Bicycle handlebar; boss

literally: a dragon head

In the same (water) vein, you have 龙头 which means a bicycle handlebar (as well as a faucet).
Interestingly, it also means “boss” or “chief”. That one’s easier to picture as a dragon head.

Dragon in Chinese language word #3: 龙卷 Tornado

龙卷

lóng juǎn

tornado

literally: a dragon roll

Literally dragon roll (doesn’t that make you hungry?), 龙卷 is how the Chinese say “Tornado” in their language. 龙卷 also means “Twister”.

No wonder Chinese CCTV called these nine tornados dragons.

Dragon in Mandarin word # 4: Tarragon

龙嵩

lóng sōng

tarragon

literally: dragon + lofty

Even the English name looks like it considered being a dragon, and then gave up halfway, only to come up with tarragon instead.
So way to go, the Chinese language, for being brave enough to include the word dragon in the name for tarragon in Chinese.
Yes, 龙嵩 is how to say tarragon in Chinese. You can also use 龙蒿 lóng hāo. Same dragon, same meaning.

Chinese Dragon word # 5: Lobster

龙虾

lóng xiā

lobster

literally: a dragon shrimp

Ah, the dragons of shrimp. We’re talking about lobsters, of course! Can you picture it? They are much bigger and badder than puny little shrimps!

其实我是龙
Actually, I’m a dragon

So, 龙虾 is how you say lobster in Chinese.

Two other fish and shellfish also have a 龙 in their name.

小龙虾, xiǎo lóng xiā, crayfish
The delicious, soft-water crayfish gets the name: the small dragon shrimp. They’re so yummy we can’t complain.

龙利, lóng lì, sole
Flat like a dragon? Like a dragon took a trip to 2D and became a flatfish.

Dragon word in Chinese # 6: Decrepit, senile

龙钟

lóng zhōng

senile

literally: dragon clock; dragon bell

Okay, this one isn’t so nice, and as fierce dragon lovers and protectors, we protest. But a word’s a word, so 龙钟 is a way to say someone is senile in Chinese.

How did this word come to mean “decrepit, senile”? That’s a question even the Chinese ask themselves.
Perhaps because as we age, we start to resemble a bell with droopy dragon ears that can’t hear much anything? Care to venture a guess? Let us know in the comments.

Dragon word in Mandarin #7: Queue

人龙

rén lóng

a queue of people

literally: a people dragon

When picturing a long line of people, you might think more of a snake in English. But the Chinese are all about dragons, and we love them for that.
So when you want to talk in Chinese about a large group of people waiting in line, say, in front of the post office, you can say 人龙. That literally means people dragon, and when you see the length of some queues, you have no trouble imagining why.
人龙 is a queue of people in Chinese.

Dragon in Chinese word #8: 恐龙 Dinosaur

恐龙

kǒng lóng

dinosaur

literally: fear dragon

Dinosaurs. Huge, powerful, mysterious creatures that roamed the Earth in ancient times called something close to dragons? Mm, that works for me. Fear dragons!

Is it a dragon? A dinosaur? A dragonosaur! — Concept art by Saleh Ahmad

Fun fact: most dinosaur names in Chinese have a dragon in them!

For example:
A velociraptor in Chinese is 伶盗龙, líng dào lóng.

A triceratops in Chinese is 三角龙, sān jiǎo lóng, a 3 horn dragon. Nice!

Bonus: 4 Chinese Loanwords that also have a dragon in them

Borrowed for its beautiful “long” sound, the word Dragon in Chinese is also found in these words imported from other languages:

Dragon loanword #1: Nylon

尼龙

 ní lóng

nylon (loanword)

What do you need to say nylon in Chinese? The Chinese character for a dragon, of course! Nylon in Chinese is 尼龙, ní lóng.

Dragon loanword #2: Salon

沙龙

shā lóng

salon (phonetic loanword)

Similarly, the Chinese conjured up the characters “sand” and “dragon”, for their phonetic pronunciation of the word “salon”.
Salon in Chinese is 沙龙, shā lóng.

Dragon loanword #3: Macaron

马卡龙

mǎ kǎ lóng

macaron (phonetic loanword)

Macarons can either be, depending on your viewpoint, either sweet French delicacies or yummy coconut treats. In either case, they’re sugary bliss. So much so that the Chinese decided you needed:
A horse (马), your card (卡), and a dragon (龙) to get some quickly enough. Just kidding, these characters were all borrowed for their sounds, of course, to form the word “macaron”. 马卡龙, mǎ kǎ lóng, is a macaron in Chinese.

Dragon loanword #4: Upsilon (greek letter Yu)

宇普西龙

yǔ pǔ xī lóng

Upsilon (phonetic loanword)

Lastly, Upsilon, the goatlike greek letter Yu was another excellent candidate for the character 龙. 龙 does indeed sound quite close to “Lon”.
宇普西龙, yǔ pǔ xī lóng is Upsilon in Chinese.

What did you think of these Chinese words? Unexpected to find dragons in them, right? Bet you wouldn’t have guessed all these words had a dragon in them! It shows how important dragons are in Chinese “animal culture”. So much so that they created lots of words with the Chinese character for dragon in them (128 in fact!).

Liked this article? Then you’re going to love this meowsome article on Five Words you didn’t expect to find a Cat in! Yeah, at Ninchanese, we’re all about cats, dragons, and learning Chinese.

The Nincha Team

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The post 8 Unexpected Words that Contain a Dragon in Chinese appeared first on Ninchanese.

Maybe you already know how to say Halloween in Chinese, but do you know any other frightful words around Halloween in Chinese? It’s the purfect time to learn some so you can have a complete Halloween spooky kit in Chinese.

Before you turn into an I-scream (get the frightful Halloween joke?), let’s see 15 Halloween in Chinese words!

How to write happy Halloween in Chinese

First things first, let’s see how to say Halloween in Chinese.

万圣节

Wàn shèng jié
Halloween

This is a shorter version of its full name in Chinese:  万圣节前夕 [Wàn shèng jié Qián xī]，which literally means: the eve before All Saint’s Day.

You can also use 鬼节 [guǐjié] to say Halloween in Chinese language. 鬼 [guǐ] is “ghost” in Chinese, and 节 [jié] is “festival”, so describing Halloween as the ghost festival is pretty fitting!

To write Happy Halloween in Chinese characters, you want to add the word 快乐, which means happy.

So to say Happy Halloween in Chinese language, you’ll say:

万圣节快乐!

Wàn shèng jié kuài lè
Happy Halloween

With 鬼节, here’s how to say happy Halloween in Chinese:

鬼节快乐!

guǐ jié kuài lè
Happy Ghost Day (Halloween)!

Speaking of which:

The Nincha Team 祝你万圣节快乐!

The Nincha Team zhù nǐ wànshèngjié kuàilè!
The Nincha Team behind Ninchanese wishes you a Happy Halloween!

With Ninchanese, get a complete method to learn Chinese, which has you speaking, reading, writing, and more in Chinese. And because culture and language go hand in hand, learn about the major Chinese cultural events and festivals on Ninchanese. From traditions to Chinese vocabulary and expressions,  you’ll love discovering all the great festivals China has to offer. Learn also about Western celebrations in Chinese such as Christmas and Thanksgiving, and how to play games in Chinese! Now that’s something to howl about.

Let’s see more Halloween words in Chinese!

Chinese Halloween Vocabulary

南瓜       Nánguā              pumpkin
南瓜灯    Nánguā dēng    Jack-o’-lantern
黑猫        Hēi māo             black cat
蜘蛛        Zhīzhū                spider
巫婆        Wūpó                  witch
扫把        Sàobǎ                 broom
面具        Miànjù                mask
猫头鹰    Māotóuyīng       owl
糖果        Tángguǒ            candies
骨架        Gǔjià                   skeleton
怪物        Guàiwù                monster
鬼            Guǐ                       ghost
鬼屋        Guǐwū                  haunted house
僵尸        Jiāng shī              Chinese vampire / Chinese-style Zombie
捣蛋        Dǎo dàn                to play tricks

Making your own Jack-o’lantern this year? Why not carve a beautiful lucky Nincha on your 南瓜？ Here’s a meowsome guide to do so! 

There are some pretty great Halloween costumes on the list, don’t you think? Nincha’s being a 僵尸 this year! That’s a Chinese-style zombie! What about you?

Bonus: Two Halloween Chinese Expressions

Want more? Here are two thrilling and chilling sentences to use, too to howl on Halloween in Chinese:

不给糖，就捣蛋

Bù gěi táng, jiù dǎodàn
Trick or treat!

噢，你吓了我一跳！

ō，nǐxiàlewǒyītiào ！
Oh, you scared me!

Enjoy this haunted collection of Halloween words in Chinese!

The Nincha Team

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Try the best way to learn Chinese today.
Ninchanese is free to use!

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The post Brain candy: 15 Halloween words in Chinese  appeared first on Ninchanese.