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方言 (fāng yán) — dialect, topolect (a regional variety of a language)

Definition

方言 is a regional variety of a language — its own vocabulary and grammar, like Cantonese or Hakka. 口音 is only the pronunciation, not a full dialect.

noun
dialecttopolect (a regional variety of a language)

Examples

  • 方言，。
    Wǒ nǎi nai zhī huì shuō fāng yán, bú huì shuō pǔ tōng huà.
    My grandmother only speaks a dialect, not Mandarin.
  • 方言，闽。
    Zhōng guó yǒu hěn duō bù tóng de fāng yán, bǐ rú yuè yǔ hé mǐn nán yǔ.
    China has many different dialects, such as Cantonese and Southern Min.
  • 方言。
    Xué fāng yán néng bāng zhù nǐ gèng shēn rù liǎo jiě dāng dì wén huà.
    Learning a dialect can help you gain a deeper understanding of the local culture.

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.

方fānglocal
言yánspeech

方 points to a place or region and 言 to speech, so together they name the language of a region.

Characters in this word

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 方 →

An abstract idea shown by a mark or a diagram rather than by a picture of an object.

The early form of 言 shows an opening and a mark indicating a location; the location is not described as the source of speech.

Open 言 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 6HSK 2.0 Level 6Language

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