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套话 (tào huà) — formulaic talk, polite conventional expressions, platitudes

Definition

套话 (tào huà) is 'stock phrases' — polite but hollow expressions used out of habit, often carrying negative judgment that the speaker is being insincere or evasive.

noun
formulaic talkpolite conventional expressionsplatitudes

Examples

  • ，套话。
    Zài zhèng shì chǎng hé, shuō xiē tào huà kě yǐ bì miǎn gān gà.
    In formal occasions, saying some polite conventional phrases can avoid awkwardness.
  • 套话，。
    Tā de yǎn jiǎng chōng mǎn le tào huà, méi yǒu rèn hé shí zhì nèi róng.
    His speech was full of platitudes, without any substantive content.
  • 套话。
    Bú yào yòng nà xiē lǎo tào huà lái fū yǎn wǒ.
    Don't fob me off with those old clichés.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

套tàoformula
话huàspeech

套 “formula” and 话 “speech” combine to mean set, formulaic speech.

Characters in this word

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

  • 大大dàlarge
  • 長長chánglong

套 is made from 大 (large) and 長 (long), originally for something long, with some reference to hair; it later came to mean a cover or a linked group.

Open 套 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 話; 话 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
言言yánword
Sound part声符shēngfú
𠯑
𠯑𠯑話huà
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

In the traditional form 話, 言 relates to words and 𠯑 gives the sound; the simplified 话 is a shorthand, so its right side is not that sound part.

Open 话 →
Appears in
Communication & Speech

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