健谈 (jiàn tán) — talkative, good at conversation | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

健谈 means 'talkative in a good way' — a person who is interesting and skilled at conversation, not just chatty. More positive than simply 爱说话; focuses on being engaging rather than talkative.

adjective

talkativegood at conversation

Examples

健谈，。
Wáng jīng lǐ hěn jiàn tán, hé tā liáo tiān yǒng yuǎn bú huì wú liáo.
Manager Wang is very talkative; chatting with him is never boring.
，健谈。
Suī rán tā píng shí bú ài shuō huà, dàn zài péng you miàn qián què fēi cháng jiàn tán.
Although she usually doesn't talk much, she is very talkative in front of friends.
健谈。
Wǒ lái jiè shào yí wèi jiàn tán de rén gěi dà jiā rèn shi.
Let me introduce a talkative person to everyone.

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.

健 means strong, 谈 means talk, together describing someone good at conversation.

Characters in this word

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

亻建健

Meaning part形符xíngfú

亻Written in full as人rénperson

Sound part声符shēngfú

建

建jiàn健jiàn

Same sound today

The left part 亻 depicts a person, and the right part 建 gives the sound.

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 談; 谈 is its simplified writing.

言炎談

Meaning part形符xíngfú

言言yánspeech

Sound part声符shēngfú

炎

炎yán談tán

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

For 谈, the traditional form 談 pairs 言 (speech) with 炎 (yán) as the sound part.

Appears in

Personality & Traits

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