- Published on
How Mandarin Flipped (So Many) 2-Character Words
- Authors
- Name
- Teddy Xinyuan Chen
As mentioned in my Borderland post, Hokkien to Mandarin is like Latin to broken English (meaning the latter is evolved from the former, but kinda in a bad way), and a very interesting fact about Mandarin is that it flipped so many 2-character words compared to Hokkien.
Examples:
- 歡喜 (I also rate this as one of the most Hokkien words)
- 慣習 (Wiktionary; also seen here, near the beginning)
- 人客 1
- And another 1000+ words
If you read these examples in Mandaarin, it will feel arcane, but if you hear them in Hokkien, they'd feel very natural.