Chinese herbs edit

Please give definitions in English, not in Latin. "Glycyrrhizae radix" means "root of the Glycyrrhiza". "Fructus Jujubae" means "fruit of the Jujube". --EncycloPetey 05:24, 2 April 2009 (UTC)Reply

Noted. Psoup 05:34, 2 April 2009 (UTC)Reply

Also please link to Wiktionary entries, at least for terms like antler or asparagus. For species names, a link to Wikipedia is better. --EncycloPetey 03:18, 3 April 2009 (UTC)Reply
Noted.

Your new bible edit

Can be found here - Wiktionary:About Chinese :) You might also like to check out WT:ELE — [ ric ] opiaterein13:08, 2 April 2009 (UTC)Reply

Thanks, although i have difficulty in trying to figure out the various rules. cheers. Psoup 14:05, 2 April 2009 (UTC)Reply

It may help to look at example pages. for English, (deprecated template usage) listen and (deprecated template usage) parrot are good example pages. For advice on Chinese entries, User:A-cai is our most experienced editor. --EncycloPetey 03:16, 3 April 2009 (UTC)Reply
Many thanks for the advice. The picture of the parrot is very good. How do i get the pictures of plants? cheers Psoup 03:19, 3 April 2009 (UTC)Reply

I picked this entry at random: 安全理事會, look at how it's formatted and try to follow that :) — [ ric ] opiaterein12:28, 5 April 2009 (UTC)Reply

Ok. But do i really need to type in the Pinyin and both the traditional and simplified forms? It seems a duplicate of the individual terms in Wiktionary. For example, when i search for 會, i get "See also 会", so the link to either word is sufficient. i learnt traditional chinese in school, but found that a lot of books now use jianti. Psoup 12:50, 5 April 2009 (UTC)Reply

蒲公英‎ edit

Why does the definition point to a Wikipedia article, rather than to the article on Wiktionary - or, better still, just to dandelion? SemperBlotto 09:48, 6 April 2009 (UTC) p.s. "an herb" seems wrong to me (UK English speaker) - surely it should be "a herb".Reply

(1) It is now pointed to dandelion in Wiktionary. Thanks for pointing it out.
(2) Initially i used "a herb", but EncycloPetey corrected me to "an herb". This was repeated a couple of times, and i really do not know what is the correct syntax to use here, without offending the sensibilities of somebody. i really hope that someone can clear up this difficulty for me. Psoup 09:54, 6 April 2009 (UTC)Reply
SemperBlotto, if it is wrong to you, then it is spelt amiss. I fixed it. Psoup, if you used initially a herb, then hopefully you do not object against my rectifying it. Greetings to both. The uſer hight Bogorm converſation 09:25, 7 April 2009 (UTC)Reply
Greetings to you. i don't mind "a herb", but the reason given below is that "an herb" is the more common usage, when "h" is not pronounced. i suppose it is a grey/gray area, and it would be tedious to write "a/an herb" repeatedly. Psoup 10:01, 7 April 2009 (UTC)Reply
  • Google shows 391,000 hits for "a herb" and 720,000 hits for "an herb". So maybe it's a US/UK difference in usage. It all depends on whether or not you prononce the "h" in herb. Most people in the UK do. SemperBlotto 10:15, 6 April 2009 (UTC)Reply
Thanks for the clarification. cheers — This unsigned comment was added by Psoup (talkcontribs) at 15:51, 6 April 2009.
The above search piqued my interest, so i repeated it. The results are as follows:

A http://google.com.sg search for "a herb" resulted in 740,000 hits; A http://google.com.sg search for "an herb" resulted in 718,000 hits; A http://sg.yahoo.com search for "a herb" resulted in 1,990,000 hits; A http://sg.yahoo.com search for "an herb" resulted in 3,880,000 hits. Conclusion: Google shows that more pages use "a herb", whereas Yahoo shows that "an herb" is the more common usage. i suppose that is a tie. Psoup 10:30, 7 April 2009 (UTC)Reply

When i repeated the search for "a herb", i got these results: (http://uk.yahoo.com/ gave 2,060,000 hits) and (http://us.yahoo.com/ gave 2,120,000 hits). So it seems that using a search engine to determine common usage may give unreliable results. My conjecture is that search engines are optimised by searching indexes in a particular geographic region only, depending on the IP address of the computer doing the search. This helps us to get what we are looking for. :) Psoup
Using google.com again, i obtained the following search results (1)"i tarzan you jane" gave 210,000 hits ;(2)"i am tarzan, you are jane" gave 544,000 hits ;(3)"i was tarzan you is jane" gave 1,600,000 hits. The fact that result (2) is double that of (1) is expected, since it is grammatically correct, but result (3) is totally unexpected. How can the number of hits for a grammatically incorrect phrase be 300% that of a correct phrase? Psoup 13:18, 8 April 2009 (UTC)Reply
Psoup, could you add pinyin to the Mandarin entries? Just in order that the reader has an idea of the pronunciation. The uſer hight Bogorm converſation 09:08, 7 April 2009 (UTC)Reply
Done for 玄参 and 白头翁. It is a rather laborious task to add the pinyin to the entry. Psoup 09:22, 7 April 2009 (UTC)Reply

大枣 edit

You added a Latin language section to this. I am pretty sure that 大枣 is not Latin! SemperBlotto 14:50, 11 April 2009 (UTC)Reply

Hi SemperBlotto, thanks for the correction. Psoup 01:16, 12 April 2009 (UTC)Reply


Scientific names section for 西洋参 edit

User:Hippietrail added this section for 西洋参. Psoup 01:46, 12 April 2009 (UTC)Reply

木通 : Added to sections on References, Scientific names, and Hypernyms. Psoup 08:09, 13 April 2009 (UTC)Reply

See also edit

This section should only be used rarely and as a last resort. It should never contain glosses and explanations when it is used, just links. --EncycloPetey 00:09, 17 April 2009 (UTC)Reply

Noted. However, the dilemma is that using only the Chinese term in the 'See also section' may convey no meaning to the reader. That's why i included a brief English phrase to the Chinese term. Psoup
Understood, but it appears to be an inappropriate use of that section. You would be better served by having some sort of topical category for the items rather than linking another word. Just as peppermint would not have a "See also" section pointing to medicine and having explanatory text. Wiktionary links information about the words. The kind of information you are trying to convey belongs on Wikipedia instead of Wiktionary. --EncycloPetey 00:19, 17 April 2009 (UTC)Reply
(1) My preference for Wiktionary is because it is inclusive rather than exclusive, and languages other than English are also welcome. Including other languages give Wiktionary a depth that is not found elsewhere. Nonetheless, your point is noted, and i will not make it into a Wikipedia-like article. Psoup 02:30, 17 April 2009 (UTC)Reply
(2) BTW, can i include a section called Topical categories? Psoup 02:35, 17 April 2009 (UTC)Reply
(3) As suggested, i've tried to ask User:A-cai a question, but there was no reply. Do you know the answer to this? Hi A-cai, In the cmn-noun template for Chinese characters, i sometimes see rs=宀03. It appears to be characters that i cannot read using my browser, although i can read both jianti and fanti online. How do i get the correct rs value? Is it alright to remove the rs value, ie. is it optional? Psoup 02:40, 17 April 2009 (UTC)Reply
User:A-cai replied as follows - "rs stands for radical/stroke (see: Section headers of a Chinese dictionary). It is used for sorting words written in traditional characters. For example, see: Category:zh-tw:Nouns. If the rs field is not filled in, then traditional words wont sort properly in the Categories beginning with zh-tw. Hope this answers your question. -- A-cai 10:58, 18 April 2009 (UTC)" Psoup 15:11, 19 April 2009 (UTC)Reply
(4) Under the Pronunciation section, there are terms like "IPA|/ɜːɹb/". What are these characters that i cannot read? Also, under audio, there are links to ".ogg" files. How can i create, upload and link to such audio files? Psoup 04:36, 17 April 2009 (UTC)Reply

radix angelicae sinensis and other Psoup entries edit

The following is copied from (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/User_talk:SemperBlotto#radix_angelicae_sinensis_and_other_Psoup_entries) These are not scientific names, they are latin descriptions of remebdy ingredients. The phrase "radix angelicae sinensis" means "root of Angelicae sinensis". --EncycloPetey 19:45, 25 April 2009 (UTC)Reply

  • Yes - I'm not very happy with them - are you going to send them to RfV, RfD, or just delete them? SemperBlotto 21:22, 25 April 2009 (UTC)Reply
    I've just deleted them. They're Latin phrases that don't merit inclusin as LAtin since they're merely sum of parts. There is little point most of the time in putting up Latin terms for RfV unless there's a possibility they'd be supported. In this case, no, just as "asparagus root" or "elderberry flower" would not meet CFI. --EncycloPetey 22:07, 25 April 2009 (UTC)Reply
    i fail to understand the haste in deleting the "sum of parts", where they are perfectly acceptable in thousands of other phrases, such as "fish and chips", "fish bowl", "fish cake", "white adipose tissue", "white as snow", "blue balls", "blue blood", "pink elephant", etc. Psoup 23:36, 26 April 2009 (UTC)Reply

Requests for cleanup edit

The following have been copied from (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Wiktionary:Requests_for_cleanup#.E8.A7.A3.E8.A1.A8.E8.8D.AF) and (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Wiktionary:Requests_for_cleanup#.E8.A1.A5.E7.9B.8A.E8.8D.AF)

解表药 edit

The hyponyms section includes a long list of "scientific names" that are not scientific names. All the items are names of ingredients as described in Latin. The item folium mori for example means "leaf of the mulberry". This information needs to be translated and moved to the entries they apply to, not placed as a list on the entry for 解表药. Why was the creator of this (and many similar pages) Whitelisted? --EncycloPetey 00:12, 17 April 2009 (UTC)Reply

补益药 edit

Another Chinese medicine entry where the glosses are given in Latin instead of English. Example: "radix Angelicae sinensis" means "root of the plant Angelica sinensis. --EncycloPetey 19:51, 25 April 2009 (UTC)Reply

i've converted 3 terms from Latin to English, and will continue to clean up the other names. The 3 terms are angelicae, longan, and polygonum. In the context of traditional Chinese medicine, the Latin names are used more frequently in the English translations of Chinese medical texts, including dictionaries. In addition, scientific and peer-reviewed articles and other publications frequently use the Latin names. The inclusion of Latin names is to facilitate reference to published materials. Psoup 02:14, 27 April 2009 (UTC)Reply
I don’t know much about alchemy and early modern chemistry, but I know that until the twentieth century, a lot of names were used for chemicals and medicaments that are no longer in use, such as essentia lunarum, auri potabilis Angelicani, and so on. It sounds as though these Chinese medicines might be in that category. If these are really terms that used to be used by English chemists and physicians, then we should include them. However, I don’t know of a resource where they can be corroborated. —Stephen 02:28, 27 April 2009 (UTC)Reply
Kindly refer to the following for corroboration of current usage in peer-reviewed articles. There are many other articles if you need me to post them:
  • "The analysis of Radix Angelicae Sinensis (Danggui)", Journal of Chromatography A, Volume 1216, Issue 11, 13 March 2009, Pages 1991-2001. Lunzhao Yi, Yizeng Liang, Hai Wu, Dalin Yuan.
  • "An herbal decoction of Radix astragali and Radix angelicae sinensis promotes hematopoiesis and thrombopoiesis", Journal of Ethnopharmacology, Mo Yang, Godfrey C.F. Chan, Ruixiang Deng, Margaret H. Ng, Sau Wan Cheng, Ching Po Lau, Jie Yu Ye, Liangjie Wang, Chang Liu.
  • "Microwave-assisted extraction of flavonoids from Radix Astragali", Separation and Purification Technology, Volume 62, Issue 3, 22 September 2008, Pages 614-618. Weihua Xiao, Lujia Han, Bo Shi.
  • "Analytical comparison of different parts of Radix Angelicae Sinensis by gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry", Journal of Chromatography A, Volume 1187, Issues 1-2, 11 April 2008, Pages 232-238. Shui-Yin Wei, Cheng-Jian Xu, Daniel Kam-Wah Mok, Hui Cao, Tsui-Yan Lau, Foo-Tim Chau.
  • "Characterization of chemical components in extracts from Si-wu decoction with proliferation-promoting effects on rat mesenchymal stem cells", Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry, Volume 16, Issue 9, 1 May 2008, Pages 5109-5114. He-Ping Zeng, Ting-Ting Wang, Wei Chen, Chun-Yan Wang, Dong-Feng Chen, Jian-Gang Shen. (This article used the names: Rhizoma chuanxiong, Radix angelicae sinensis, Radix paeoniae alba, and Radix rehmanniae praeparata.) Psoup 03:15, 27 April 2009 (UTC)Reply

radix angelicae sinensis edit

The following is copied from the talk page of EncycloPetey (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/User_talk:EncycloPetey#radix_angelicae_sinensis). Hi EncycloPetey, you've deleted "radix angelicae sinensis" and similar entries, but these terms are used extensively in current scientific and peer-reviewed journal articles and books. In essence, they are similar to entries like white adipose tissue, breast cancer, prostate gland, liver function test etc. Can you please revert the deletes? Psoup 02:06, 28 April 2009 (UTC)Reply

No, they are not. No such citations have ever been provided, and they would not be informative either. They are Latin descriptions and are sum of parts in Latin. They are not like breast cancer, etc. They are like radish root, asparagus leaves, and elderberry fruit. None of these combinations would meet CFI, and they are all merely sum of the parts. --EncycloPetey 02:40, 28 April 2009 (UTC)Reply
i've given a number of citations in various places, including those at Requests for cleanup (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Wiktionary:Requests_for_cleanup) , such as the following.. Kindly refer to the following for corroboration of current usage in peer-reviewed articles.
  • "The analysis of Radix Angelicae Sinensis (Danggui)", Journal of Chromatography A, Volume 1216, Issue 11, 13 March 2009, Pages 1991-2001. Lunzhao Yi, Yizeng Liang, Hai Wu, Dalin Yuan.
  • "An herbal decoction of Radix astragali and Radix angelicae sinensis promotes hematopoiesis and thrombopoiesis", Journal of Ethnopharmacology, Mo Yang, Godfrey C.F. Chan, Ruixiang Deng, Margaret H. Ng, Sau Wan Cheng, Ching Po Lau, Jie Yu Ye, Liangjie Wang, Chang Liu.
  • "Microwave-assisted extraction of flavonoids from Radix Astragali", Separation and Purification Technology, Volume 62, Issue 3, 22 September 2008, Pages 614-618. Weihua Xiao, Lujia Han, Bo Shi.
  • "Analytical comparison of different parts of Radix Angelicae Sinensis by gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry", Journal of Chromatography A, Volume 1187, Issues 1-2, 11 April 2008, Pages 232-238. Shui-Yin Wei, Cheng-Jian Xu, Daniel Kam-Wah Mok, Hui Cao, Tsui-Yan Lau, Foo-Tim Chau.
  • "Characterization of chemical components in extracts from Si-wu decoction with proliferation-promoting effects on rat mesenchymal stem cells", Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry, Volume 16, Issue 9, 1 May 2008, Pages 5109-5114. He-Ping Zeng, Ting-Ting Wang, Wei Chen, Chun-Yan Wang, Dong-Feng Chen, Jian-Gang Shen. (This article used the names: Rhizoma chuanxiong, Radix angelicae sinensis, Radix paeoniae alba, and Radix rehmanniae praeparata.) Psoup 05:45, 28 April 2009 (UTC)Reply
You have failed to read the rest of my response. Please read my complete response. --EncycloPetey 13:38, 28 April 2009 (UTC)Reply
The CFI (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Wiktionary:Criteria_for_inclusion) states: "A term should be included if it's likely that someone would run across it and want to know what it means. This in turn leads to the somewhat more formal guideline of including a term if it is attested and idiomatic." For someone who knows English, breast cancer is a sum of parts, exactly like radix astragali for someone who knows Latin. (In other words, i can deduce the meaning of breast cancer by simply finding the meanings of the two words, and joining them together. i guess that is what you mean by sum-of-parts.) However, for someone who does not know Latin, runs across the term radix astragali, and wants to know what it means, then an entry in Wiktionary would be useful. This is the reason why i think commonly used terms in scientific literature should be included, whether they are English or Latin. In other words, for one who speaks English but not Latin, the term radix astragali isn't a sum of parts, and does not resemble root of astragalus. Hopefully, the use of Wiktionary can address this. A reader who reads English but not Latin would be able to tell immediately the meaning of breast cancer, radish root, asparagus leaves, and elderberry fruit, etc, but not the meaning of folium asparagi or radix angelicae sinensis. That is why the sum-of-parts comment may apply to asparagus leaves but not to folium asparagi. Psoup 15:26, 28 April 2009 (UTC)Reply
Wiktionary applies sum-of-parts according to the language in which the term is written, not according to the general knowledge of an English speaker. This principle has been upheld over and over again in many Deletion discussions. If you wish the community to change that principle, you would have to present a suitable reason. But, keep in mind that (as I said) the principle has been repeatedly upheld. And breast cancer is a slightly different case. It isn't quite sum-of-parts because breast can mean "chest" in English and is often used that way. The current definition is perhaps inadequate in conveying this point. --EncycloPetey 02:11, 29 April 2009 (UTC)Reply
Thank you for your explanation. In this case, i suppose i will have to break them up into their atomic forms, such as astragali, cortex, fructus, flos and angelicae sinensis, etc, and then the reader will have to look up the meanings separately. Finally, the reader will have to combine them into some useful form mentally. This isn't the case in English dictionaries on traditional medicine, since eliminating the last step leads to standardisation of usage. Psoup 07:18, 29 April 2009 (UTC)Reply
But why anglicae sinensis, the lemma is not the genitivus singularis, but instead nominativus singularis? I do not see any particular reason for creating the entry elsewhere than at anglica sinensis. The uſer hight Bogorm converſation 07:58, 29 April 2009 (UTC)Reply
Sorry, i am not familiar with the terms. What is the meaning of lemma? Can you please explain the differences between genitivus singularis and nominativus singularis? Psoup 04:50, 30 April 2009 (UTC)Reply
Lemma is used to designate the main form of the entry where definitions, quotations and translations should stay, e. g. in English the lemma for nouns is the singular - lemma: cogitation and cogitations only redirects thereto. In Latin the cases are explained here circumstantially. Thus, the main form for Latin nouns is nominative singular and not genitive singular: anglicae sinensis is the genitive singular and anglica sinensis is the nominarive, where the entry with definitions, translations and quotations should stay. The uſer hight Bogorm converſation 07:53, 30 April 2009 (UTC)Reply
Thanks for your explanation. i think it should be angelica and not anglica. Should the lemma therefore be angelica or angelicae? Psoup 09:28, 30 April 2009 (UTC)Reply
angelica. I musthave failed to press the e, it was inadvertent. The uſer hight Bogorm converſation 09:49, 30 April 2009 (UTC)Reply
Thanks. When i looked up angelica, it is defined as an English word. Shouldn't it be Latin? Psoup 10:20, 30 April 2009 (UTC)Reply
In some cases the names are the same in English and Latin. The uſer hight Bogorm converſation 10:47, 30 April 2009 (UTC)Reply
For other Latin nouns, how do i find their nominative singular form? e.g. astragali, asparagi, etc ? How do i tell if a noun is genitive singular? Psoup 11:15, 30 April 2009 (UTC)Reply
I checked these two in the Latin-Russian dictionary I am using (I have not sought after Latin-English, so I can not recommend you any), their nominative form is astragalus, asparagus (but in Latin, not English, i. e. in case you want to create Latin entries. Sometimes the name is the same in English, but I do not know whether this is the case here and am too indolent to check). When the genitive form (which you encounter) has -i ending, this is a second declension noun which may be either a neutrum ending in -um or a masculine ending in -us (which is the case with these two). For further information refer to the Wikipedia article. The uſer hight Bogorm converſation 11:28, 30 April 2009 (UTC)Reply
Having never learned Latin in school, i find it ironical that i need a Latin-English dictionary now. Don't i look stupid hanging around these parts? Psoup 11:58, 30 April 2009 (UTC)Reply

Babel edit

Psoup, since you are already an active contributor here, would you mind adding a babel template with the languages you speak on your user page? Thus the other editors will know which language to use if they (and you) speak it better than English. The uſer hight Bogorm converſation 08:03, 29 April 2009 (UTC)Reply

Added Babel template as requested. Psoup 04:45, 30 April 2009 (UTC)Reply

PLEASE I beg edit

Use standard templates and formatting. I know that category looks messy, but remember that the three-letter iso code cmn is Mandarin, yue is Cantonese, nan is MinNan, etc. {{cmn-noun}} especially is your friend. — [ R·I·C ] opiaterein00:52, 2 May 2009 (UTC)Reply

i've edited the terms 补益药, 解表药, 解表药, 清热药, 泻下药, 温里药, 利湿药 using the cmn-noun template, but there is still the message "Chinese words needing attention" at the bottom of the page. Why is that so? Psoup 01:08, 2 May 2009 (UTC)Reply
The following is copied from http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/User_talk:A-cai. "Chinese words needing attention" is a category that was created for entries that have formatting issues. Most often, the formatting issue involves an improperly formatted part-of-speech template (or lack thereof). The "pint" variable is for sorting purposes. It stands for "Pinyin with tones." Instead of diacritic marks, numbers are used to denote the the tone. For example, 我 would be denoted as wo3. The categories that sort according to Pinyin order need this variable to be filled in (ex. Category:zh-cn:Nouns). -- A-cai 11:56, 2 May 2009 (UTC)Reply

利湿药 edit

Hi, surely 利湿药 is not the same with traditional characters? --Jyril 03:53, 2 May 2009 (UTC)Reply


What is rs=日08 in cmn-noun? edit

{The following is copied from http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/User_talk:A-cai )

Hi A-cai, In the cmn-noun template for Chinese characters, i sometimes see rs=宀03. It appears to be characters that i cannot read using my browser, although i can read both jianti and fanti online. How do i get the correct rs value? Is it alright to remove the rs value, ie. is it optional? Psoup 07:27, 15 April 2009 (UTC)Reply

rs stands for radical/stroke (see: Section headers of a Chinese dictionary). It is used for sorting words written in traditional characters. For example, see: Category:zh-tw:Nouns. If the rs field is not filled in, then traditional words wont sort properly in the Categories beginning with zh-tw. Hope this answers your question. -- A-cai 10:58, 18 April 2009 (UTC)Reply
Many thanks for your answer. i'll need some time to figure it out. Psoup
Hi A-cai, what does "Chinese words needing attention" mean? i've filled in the entry using the cmn-noun template. Also, what is the use of "pint=" in the template? There does not seem to be any result. Psoup 11:22, 2 May 2009 (UTC)Reply
"Chinese words needing attention" is a category that was created for entries that have formatting issues. Most often, the formatting issue involves an improperly formatted part-of-speech template (or lack thereof). The "pint" variable is for sorting purposes. It stands for "Pinyin with tones." Instead of diacritic marks, numbers are used to denote the the tone. For example, 我 would be denoted as wo3. The categories that sort according to Pinyin order need this variable to be filled in (ex. Category:zh-cn:Nouns). -- A-cai 11:56, 2 May 2009 (UTC)Reply
Hi, can you please explain how to obtain the rs value of a term? i still do not understand after reading Section headers of a Chinese dictionary) and Category:zh-tw:Nouns. For example how are the following obtained?
  • 乾象 rs=乙10
  • 丹楹 rs=丶03
  • 三通 rs=一02
  • 三軍 rs=一02
  • 三角形 rs=一02 (If the rs is missing, the comment "Chinese words needing attention" will automatically appear for the entry.) Psoup 14:13, 9 May 2009 (UTC)Reply
The standard convention in traditional Chinese dictionaries is to sort by the radical/stroke value of the first character in the phrase. What does that mean, you may ask? Every Chinese character is classified according to one of 200+ radicals (see: Index:Chinese radical for Wiktionary's radical/stroke index). Characters with that radical are then sorted according to the remaining number of strokes in the character. For example, the radical for the character 三 is 一. When you take 一 away from 三, you are left with two strokes. Therefore, the rs value would be 一02. The easiest way to find the rs value for any character is to look up the character right here in Wiktionary. For example, if you were to navigate to the page for , you should see:
Han character
乾 (radical 5 乙+10, 11 strokes, cangjie input 十十人弓 (JJON), four-corner 48417)
Do you see the part that says 乙+10? That is the rs value. The "+" should not be included in the rs field, so we are left with rs=乙10.
With the invention of the internet and computers, learning such things has become less imperative. However, in the past, one would have had to memorize which radical went with any given character, if one wanted to find it in a dictionary. I think it is still a good idea to familiarize oneself with the basics of the concept, if one is serious about progressing in the language. -- A-cai 14:44, 9 May 2009 (UTC)Reply
Hi, many thanks for the explanation. For a compound term, it seems that the rs value is only given for the first character, e.g. 乾象. Is that correct? Psoup 14:54, 9 May 2009 (UTC)Reply
Correct. In Wiktionary, we have entries for the following nouns whose first character is classified under the radical 乙 (Note how they are sorted according to the remaining number of strokes of the first character).
乙醇
九五
九族
乾炒牛河
乾草熱
乾象 <--- Here is your word
乾酪
亂世
亂軍
Hopefully, the logic of this scheme now makes more sense. -- A-cai 15:01, 9 May 2009 (UTC)Reply
Yes, it is much clearer now. Thanks. Psoup 16:04, 9 May 2009 (UTC)Reply

Mandarin/Chinese edit

Hello, Psoup. We are having a discussion right now on whether to preserve the Mandarin headings or to switch to Chinese instead. Your comments are welcome at Wiktionary:Beer_parlour#A_modest_request (and elsewhere too, of course :)). The uſer hight Bogorm converſation 15:55, 10 May 2009 (UTC)Reply


IPA edit

This is copied from http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/User_talk:Jyril#IPA. Hi Jyril, thank you for the numerous corrections of the Chinese entries. One question though.. What is the meaning of IPA? i can only see characters that i cannot read. Psoup 15:52, 16 May 2009 (UTC)Reply

You're welcome. IPA is an acronym for the International Phonetic Alphabet. --Jyril 16:44, 16 May 2009 (UTC)Reply

药材 Materia medica of Traditional Chinese Medicine edit

In the style of http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/User:Badagnani: These have been moved to http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/User:Psoup


葛根 edit

葛根 translations

Mandarin entries edit

Thank you for all of your hard work on the Mandarin entries. Here are some reference pages that may be of use:

If you have any questions about formatting please don't hesitate to post a note on my talk page or at Wiktionary:Beer Parlour. -- A-cai 14:58, 6 June 2009 (UTC)Reply