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什麼

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: 什麽, 甚麼, 甚麽, and 什么

Chinese

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tenth (used in fractions) dimi.
trad. (什麼/甚麼/什麽/甚麽) / /
simp. (什么)
alternative forms
拾沒拾没 obsolete
是物 obsolete
是勿 obsolete
是沒是没 obsolete
甚物 obsolete
拾沒拾没 obsolete
是物 obsolete
是勿 obsolete
是沒是没 obsolete
甚物 obsolete
甚沒甚没 obsolete
甚摩 obsolete
甚謨甚谟 obsolete
什摩 obsolete
 

Etymology

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Corruption of medieval 是物 (MC dzyeX mjut, “why”) (Yuan et al., 1996: 318–324) or 什物 (MC dzyip mjut, “miscellaneous items”) (Norman, 1988; Zhang, 1982), perhaps influenced by 何物 (OC *ɡaːl mɯd, “what”).

Pronunciation

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Note: Many other variant pronunciations exist.
Note:
  • sim6 moh4 - Chaozhou, Shantou;
  • se6 moh4 - Jieyang.

Pronoun

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什麼

  1. (interrogative) what
    什麼什么  ―  Zhè shì shénme?  ―  What is this?
    平時喜歡什麼 [MSC, trad.]
    平时喜欢什么 [MSC, simp.]
    Nǐ píngshí xǐhuān zuò shénme? [Pinyin]
    What do you like doing in your spare time?
    知道什麼 [MSC, trad.]
    知道什么 [MSC, simp.]
    Wǒ bù zhīdào tā shì shénme rén. [Pinyin]
    I don't know what kind of person he is.
  2. something
    什麼 [MSC, trad.]
    什么 [MSC, simp.]
    Nǐ xiǎng chī diǎn shénme ma? [Pinyin]
    Would you like something to eat?
  3. anything; whatever
    什麼知道 [MSC, trad.]
    什么知道 [MSC, simp.]
    shénme dōu bù zhīdào. [Pinyin]
    I don't know anything
    什麼什么  ―  shénme yě bù pà.  ―  I'm not afraid of anything.
    可以什麼什麼 [MSC, trad.]
    可以什么什么 [MSC, simp.]
    Tā kěyǐ xiǎng zuò shénme jiù zuò shénme. [Pinyin]
    He can do whatever he wants.
  4. (used to express surprise or anger) what
    什麼事兒 [MSC, trad.]
    什么事儿 [MSC, simp.]
    Gàn de shì shénme shìr! [Pinyin]
    What a thing to do!
  5. (used before an enumeration) thing like; such as; and so on; and what not
  6. (used to express disapproval, disagreement)

Synonyms

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Derived terms

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Descendants

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  • Translingual: Yiminaspis shenme

Japanese

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Etymology 1

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Kanji in this term
いん
Hyōgai

Hyōgai
irregular tōon
Alternative spelling
恁麼

From spoken Middle Chinese 恁麼 / 恁么 (nyimX muɑ, what?, archaic).[1] The spelling shifted to include the Chinese synonym 什麼 / 什么 (modern Mandarin reading of shénme), while keeping the inmo reading for 恁麼 / 恁么 (rènme), instead of the expected reading for 什麼.

Imported into Japanese by Zen monks who had studied in China.[1] Generally restricted to use by Zen practitioners.[2]

Pronunciation

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Pronoun

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(いん)() (inmo

  1. (rare) what
Usage notes
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Generally followed by the possessive particle (no) and used as an adnominal, with a meaning of what kind of.

Etymology 2

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Kanji in this term
どんな
Hyōgai Hyōgai
jukujikun

Orthographic borrowing from Mandarin 什麼 / 什么 (what).

Definitions

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For pronunciation and definitions of 什麼 – see the following entry.
どんな
[adjective] how?; like what?; what kind of...?
[adjective] which one?
Alternative spellings
何様な, 何様, 甚麼
(This term, 什麼, is an alternative spelling (literary, obsolete) of the above term.)

Adjective

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什麼(どんな) (donna

  1. (rare) what
    • ()(ぼく)にアリバイが出来(でき)なかったとしたら、僕等(ぼくら)什麼恐(どんなおそ)ろしい結果(けっか)になっていたか()れない
      moshi boku ni aribai gadekinakattatoshitara, bokura wa donna osoroshī kekka ni natte ita ka shirenai
      If I hadn't had an alibi, who knows what kind of terrible outcome would have awaited us?

References

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  1. 1.0 1.1 Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典(新装版) [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
  2. ^ Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN