Being smart can be painful. (Aka: How to say ‘smart’ in Chinese)
Have you ever thought about what smartness means?
In English, “smart” can refer to a person’s quickness of mind, but it can also mean someone dressed neatly. Or to a wound that stings.
Because apparently it derives from the Old English word meaning “pain” or uncomfortable “stinging.”
Over time, the word evolved into quickness, particularly intellectual quickness, and now it is what we know it as today.
It kind of makes sense, in a way, you could say that a physical sting is quick and sharp, and someone who is smart and can give “good comebacks” can be described in the same way.
But in Chinese, the word for “smart” “聰明” (cōngmíng) has a totally different connotation.
knowing how the word “smart” is constructed gives you a bit of insight into how ancient Chinese viewed intelligence.
Let’s break it down:
- “聰” (cōng): this character means intelligent or acute, and consists of an “ear” radical on the left “耳” (ěr) and a phonetic component “悤” (cōng) on the right, which is a character people no longer use, but it used to mean “anxious” or “hurried.” (Note, in simplified Chinse, the character is written as: 聪 instead)
- “明” (míng): this character is composed of the character for “日” (sun) and “月” (moon) and is related to brightness and sight and clarity.
In other words, you can think: good hearing plus clear sight makes you smart. Kind of makes sense, since “smartness” is generally associated with “knowing a lot” (not to be confused with the concept of wisdom, which is deeper), and how do you know a lot of information? You SEE it and you HEAR it.
And that makes you smart.
So. Now you are two Chinese characters smarter than you were before, how about that? :)
Until we sing again,
Essie ^.^
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