# Phrase examples and former-entry migration

These are **not words in the dictionary**. Every word retains its own meaning and reading. The first two columns are historical identifiers. The current expression is an ordinary description or grammatical construction, often broader than the former English gloss. Read the precision column before using it as an exact translation. Grammar examples such as 在 咿 require a following predicate; they are not standalone lexical expressions.

| Former entry | Former gloss (historical) | Current expression | Pinyin | Literal meaning | Precision / use |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 飞机 | airplane | 飞 机 | fēi jī | flying machine | Broader than airplane; specify wings and mode of flight when required. |
| 气球 | balloon | 球 可 咿 容 啊 气 | qiú kě yī róng ā qì | ball that contains gas | Description of contents, not an exact definition of every balloon. |
| 火箭 | rocket | 火 箭 | huǒ jiàn | fire-associated projectile | Only a contextual description; specify propulsion for an exact rocket. |
| 病毒 | virus | 病 因 | bìng yīn | cause of illness | Broader than virus. A virus requires its biological mechanism/type to be specified. |
| 天使 | angel | 神 使 | shén shǐ | divine messenger | A role description; does not inherit every theological meaning of angel. |
| 银行 | financial bank | 钱 店 | qián diàn | money shop | A financial establishment in context; state deposits/lending and institutional functions for a bank. |
| 长凳 | bench | 长 凳 | cháng dèng | long bench or stool | Ordinary length modification. |
| 自行车 | bicycle | 车 可 人 咿 动 用 足 | chē kě rén yī dòng yòng zú | vehicle a person moves using the feet | Specify wheels and pedals to distinguish bicycle types; no autonomous-motion word. |
| 沥青 | asphalt; bitumen; pitch | 道 物 | dào wù | road material | Broad paraphrase only. For asphalt specify a stone mixture and its bitumen binder; identify the binder by composition or a local technical definition. No 油粘 lexical coinage is adopted. |
| 焦油 | tar | 焦 油 | jiāo yóu | oil associated with charring | Contextual material description; specify origin/process for tar, and do not equate it with bitumen. |
| 消化 | digest; assimilate; process information | 食 化 | shí huà | food transformation | Broad process description; name bodily digestion or another mechanism explicitly. |
| 恐龙 | dinosaur | 古 兽 | gǔ shòu | ancient animal | Broader than dinosaur; exact biological classification must be described or identified externally. |
| 物理 | physics; physical in the material-world sense | 物 的 理 | wù de lǐ | principles concerning matter | A general description, not a special physics word. |
| 物理学 | physics as a discipline | 物 的 理 的 学 | wù de lǐ de xué | study of principles concerning matter | The intended discipline must be established in context. |
| 电话 | telephone; phone call | 电 话 | diàn huà | electrical speech | Name the device or remote conversation explicitly; not an automatic telephone noun. |
| 巧克力 | chocolate | 糖 食 | táng shí | sweet food | Broader than chocolate; specify cocoa/material composition if exact identification matters. |
| 化学 | chemistry; chemical (attributive) | 物 化 的 学 | wù huà de xué | study of material transformation | Broader than chemistry; define the intended discipline locally. |
| 化学品 | chemicals | 物 | wù | substance | Specify chemical composition or use. No separate chemical-product lexeme. |
| 化合物 | chemical compound | 合 物 | hé wù | joined material | Not every mixture is a chemical compound; chemical bonding/composition needs explanation. |
| 逻辑 | logic | 理 想 的 法 | lǐ xiǎng de fǎ | rules of principled thought | Specify the inference system; not a fixed synonym for formal logic. |
| 推理 | reasoning; inference; deduce | 理 想 | lǐ xiǎng | principled thought | Reasoning in context; does not by itself assert deduction or validity. |
| 玉米 | corn; maize | 粮 | liáng | grain | Broader than maize; identify the plant specifically if needed. |
| 自然 | nature; natural; naturally | 物 | wù | thing/material | Describe the actual natural process or absence of human intervention; no exact fixed naturalness phrase. |
| 从不 | never (habitually) | 永 不 | yǒng bù | not throughout the stated interval | Ordinary scope combination. Prior experience specifically uses 不 过 before the action. |
| 永不 | never; will never | 永 不 | yǒng bù | not throughout the stated interval | Meaning is supplied by the grammar and the stated time interval; not a separate word. |
| 办公室 | office; business premises | 劳 室 | láo shì | work room | Broader than office; state the administrative purpose when needed. |
| 书桌 | desk | 书 桌 | shū zhuō | table associated with books | A descriptive noun phrase; may identify a desk in context. |
| 正式 | formal; official | 法 式 | fǎ shì | form according to a rule | Formal/procedural in context; authorization is a separate claim. |
| 医院 | hospital | 医 院 | yī yuàn | medical establishment | Specify inpatient care or institution type for a hospital. |
| 旅馆 | hotel | 旅 馆 | lǚ guǎn | travel-related service establishment | Specify lodging for a hotel; it is not a guaranteed whole-phrase meaning. |
| 金字塔 | pyramid (building or structure) | 塔 | tǎ | tower | Broader than a pyramidal tower; a geometric pyramid is a shape requiring an explicit definition. Describe polygonal base and triangular sides when exact geometry matters. |
| 共和国 | republic | 国 | guó | country | A republic requires the relevant constitutional arrangements to be described; no exact short replacement is asserted. |
| 共和 | republicanism; republican government | 政 法 | zhèng fǎ | rules of government | Broader than republicanism; describe the political institutions. |
| 机器人 | robot; android | 人 形 的 机 | rén xíng de jī | machine of human form | Humanoid machine only; nonhumanoid robots need an action/control description. |
| 音节 | syllable | 声 节 | shēng jié | segment of sound | Broader than syllable; specify spoken rhythmic/phonological division if needed. |
| 海绵 | sponge; synthetic sponge; foam rubber | 多 孔 的 物 | duō kǒng de wù | material with many holes | Broader than sponge; specify porosity, absorption, softness, and natural/synthetic origin as needed. |
| 电视 | television; TV | 远 视 的 器 | yuǎn shì de qì | device for distant viewing | Broader than television; explain electronic image/sound transmission. |
| 香草 | vanilla flavor; aromatic herb | 香 草 | xiāng cǎo | aromatic herb | Literal description only; not specifically vanilla. |
| 香子兰 | vanilla plant; Vanilla planifolia | 香 兰 | xiāng lán | fragrant orchid | Broader than vanilla; species identification remains a technical description or proper taxonomic name. |
| 骨架 | skeleton; framework | 骨 架 | gǔ jià | bone framework | An ordinary anatomical description; non-bone supporting frames are 架 with a material qualifier. |
| 图书馆 | library | 书 馆 | shū guǎn | book service establishment | Broader than library; specify shared access or borrowing if needed. |
| 餐馆 | restaurant | 餐 馆 | cān guǎn | meal service establishment | Literal description of the service, with context identifying a restaurant. |
| 电器 | electrical appliance | 电 器 | diàn qì | electrical device | Ordinary power/type modifier. |
| 容器 | container; vessel | 器 可 咿 容 啊 物 | qì kě yī róng ā wù | device that contains material | Regular subject-gap relative. Specify purpose/capacity if empty rather than asserting current contents. |
| 武器 | weapon; arms | 武 器 | wǔ qì | martial device | A purpose-qualified device; specify weapon function if necessary. |
| 医学 | medicine; medical science | 医 学 | yī xué | medical study | Ordinary domain modification. |
| 数学 | mathematics | 数 学 | shù xué | study of numbers | Narrower than all mathematics; identify the mathematical domain in technical use. |
| 生物学 | biology | 生 物 的 学 | shēng wù de xué | study of living things | Ordinary descriptive domain; not a dictionary compound. |
| 电动机 | electric motor | 电 机 | diàn jī | electrical machine | Broader than motor; specify production of motion when relevant. |
| 教室 | classroom | 教 室 | jiāo shì | teaching room | Ordinary purpose modification; 教 keeps its word reading jiāo. |
| 食品 | food products; foodstuffs | 食 品 | shí pǐn | food product | Ordinary type modification. |
| 电脑 | computer | 算 机 | suàn jī | calculating machine | Computer in a suitable context; programmable general computation must be specified when relevant. |
| 摩天楼 | skyscraper | 很 高 的 楼 | hěn gāo de lóu | very tall building | Ordinary degree and grouping; no skyscraper threshold is implied. |
| 音乐 | music | 音 艺 | yīn yì | art involving pitched sounds | Music in a suitable context, not a new exact dictionary headword. |
| 乐理 | music theory | 音 艺 的 理 | yīn yì de lǐ | principles of pitched-sound art | Specify the musical practice or theory concerned. |
| 百万 | million; 10^6 | 一 百 万 | yī bǎi wàn | one hundred ten-thousands | Regular positional number construction: 1,000,000. |
| 十亿 | billion; 10^9 | 十 亿 | shí yì | ten hundred-millions | Regular positional number construction: 1,000,000,000. |
| 万亿 | trillion; 10^12 | 一 万 亿 | yī wàn yì | ten-thousand hundred-millions | Regular positional number construction: 1,000,000,000,000. |
| 导弹 | guided missile | 弹 可 咿 收 啊 向 讯 | dàn kě yī shōu ā xiàng xùn | projectile that receives direction information | A descriptive guided projectile; specify mechanism if needed. |
| 我们 | we; us | 我 们 | wǒ men | we/us | Productive personal-pronoun plurality construction; not a dictionary word. |
| 你们 | you, explicitly plural | 你 们 | nǐ men | you, explicitly plural | Productive personal-pronoun plurality construction. |
| 其们 | they; them, explicitly plural and gender-neutral | 其 们 | qí men | they/them, explicitly plural | Productive personal-pronoun plurality construction. |
| 今日 | today | 今 日 | jīn rì | current day | Ordinary temporal description: today in the current-day context. |
| 昨日 | yesterday | 昨 | zuó | yesterday | Existing single word; no compound entry. |
| 明日 | tomorrow | 继 日 | jì rì | succeeding day | The next day relative to the stated/current day; tomorrow when anchored to today. |
| 在咿 | doing an action; action nominalizer | 在 咿 | zài yī | active participle expressing an action | Active participle: put the verbal expression after 在 咿; it names the action as a noun phrase. |
| 在诶 | being in a state; quality nominalizer | 在 诶 | zài ēi | active participle expressing a state | Active participle of a quality predicate; it names being in that state. |
| 在啊 | being a thing/category; category nominalizer | 在 啊 | zài ā | active participle expressing category membership | Active participle of a category predicate; it names being that kind of thing. |
| 从咿 | passive description of the first direct object | 从 咿 | cóng yī | passive participle | Passive participle: the described noun supplies the first direct-object role of the contained verb. |
| 赛道 | racecourse; course used for a race | 赛 道 | sài dào | competition path | Ordinary purpose modifier; a racecourse in a racing context. |
| 终点 | endpoint; race finish; destination terminus | 终 点 | zhōng diǎn | final point | Ordinary modifier; does not mean a mental goal without further context. |
| 诱因 | incentive; circumstance making an action attractive | 诱 因 | yòu yīn | cause of enticement | An ordinary relation; specify who is attracted toward what event. No new noun-specific clause frame. |
| 合力 | join forces; cooperate through concerted effort | 合 劳 | hé láo | joint work | Ordinary description of cooperation; describe any technical coordination separately. |
| 轻视 | look down on; despise; scorn | 减 敬 | jiǎn jìng | reduced respect | Ordinary degree description; the degree and attitude meant by scorn must be stated. |
| 满足 | satisfy; meet a need, requirement, or condition | 够 为 我 需 | gòu wèi wǒ xū | enough for my need | A quality description, not a transitive satisfy verb. Replace 我 as context requires. |
| 优化 | optimize relative to an objective | 试 做 啊 系 诶 更 优 | shì zuò ā xì ēi gèng yōu | try to make a system better | A regular verb stack and result construction; specify criterion and do not claim a guaranteed optimum. |
| 演化 | evolve; evolution | 变 | biàn | change | Describe evolutionary mechanism over events/generations if that specific claim is intended. |
| 文明 | civilization | 文 社 | wén shè | cultural society | A description only; not an exact word for civilization or a moral ranking. |
| 生物 | organism; living thing; life form | 生 物 | shēng wù | living thing | Ordinary description of a thing with life. |
| 效率 | efficiency | 效 率 | xiào lǜ | effect ratio | State output, input, and units for an efficiency measure. The ratio is not determined by the phrase alone. |
| 效用 | utility; usefulness | 值 | zhí | value | Specify whose preferences and the scale for technical utility; no exact generic utility lexeme is added. |
| 资源 | resource; usable means; resources | 用 物 | yòng wù | use-related things | A broad ordinary description. Name the actual goods, funds, time, capabilities, or other means; usefulness to an actor must be stated where material. |