寒喧 (hán xuān) — to exchange conventional greetings; to make small talk (especially about the weather as a conversation starter)

Definition

寒暄 (hánxuān) means polite small talk — exchanging greetings or chatting about the weather before getting to the point. It's a verb that often takes 几句 as its object (∼了几句).

verb
to exchange conventional greetingsto make small talk (especially about the weather as a conversation starter)
Easily confused

Examples

  • 寒喧，。
    Tā men yí jiàn miàn jiù xiān hán xuān le jǐ jù, rán hòu cái kāi shǐ gōng zuò.
    They exchanged a few pleasantries upon meeting, then got to work.
  • ，寒喧。
    Zài zhèng shì chǎng hé, rén men cháng cháng yǐ hán xuān zuò wéi tán huà de kāi tóu.
    In formal settings, people often start conversations with small talk.
  • 寒喧，。
    Tā bú shàn cháng hán xuān, měi cì jiàn miàn dōu zhí jiē shuō zhèng shì.
    He's not good at making small talk; he goes straight to business every time.

Origin

Characters in this word

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

  • 宀宀miánhouse
  • 人人rénperson
  • 茻茻mǎnggrass

寒 shows 宀 (house), 人 (person), and 茻 (grass): a person sleeping in grass inside a house to keep out the cold.

Open 寒 →

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

Meaning part形符xíngfú
口口kǒu
Sound part声符shēngfú
宣
宣xuān喧xuān
Same sound today

喧 is made of 口 (mouth) and 宣, which is read xuān and gives the character its sound.

Open 喧 →

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