Taierzhuang

See also: Tai'erzhuang

English

Etymology

From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of 臺兒莊／台兒莊／台儿庄 (Tái'érzhuāng), without syllable-dividing mark (隔音符號／隔音符号 (géyīn fúhào)).

Proper noun

Taierzhuang

1. Alternative form of Tai'erzhuang
   • 1982, Dick Wilson, “Battle for Xuzhou”, in When Tigers Fight: the Story of the Sino-Japanese War, 1937-1945‎^[1], New York: Viking Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 94:

     General Li ordered General Sun to proceed to Taierzhuang to prepare defence works in the hope that the Japanese could be tempted to penetrate the Chinese lines along the railway and expose themselves to Chinese attack.
     'I was certain,' General Li afterwards recalled, 'that a man as proud as General Isogai would not wait until the Japanese armies marching forwards from Bengbu had come within supporting distance but would fall on Taierzhuang immediately, in the hope of taking Xuzhou with a single stroke and gaining the honour of being the first to clear the Tianjin-Nanjing railway line.
     'My intention was to lay a trap for the enemy when he did so. As soon as our defenders at Taierzhuang were fully prepared, I would order Tang’s army to come south secretly, attacking the enemy from behind, encircling him and finally annihilating him.'

   • 2018 December 31, Alan Taylor, “New Year’s Eve Photos: Welcoming 2019”, in The Atlantic‎^[2], archived from the original on 31 December 2018‎^[3]:

     Folk artists perform with molten-iron fireworks in the Taierzhuang ancient city on December 30, 2018, in Zaozhuang, Shandong province, China.

Usage notes

Taierzhuang can be considered a misspelling of Tai'erzhuang. In theory, a syllable-dividing mark (隔音符號／隔音符号 (géyīn fúhào)) should be added before a non-initial syllable beginning with a, o, or e. Hence, Taierzhuang is not allowed since a word made up of tai, er and zhuang would be spelled as Tai'erzhuang (cf. Tai'erzhuang) and a word made up of tai, er, zhu and ang would be spelled as Tai'erzhu'ang. In practice, syllable-dividing marks are often added or omitted at will.

Further reading

• Tai'erzhuang, Taierzhuang at the Google Books Ngram Viewer.